Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is cozied in his bath when a mysterious package arrives – a puzzle box – that contains at its center an invitation to Miles Bron’s (Edward Norton) private island off the coast of Greece for an elaborate party. Among the other lucky chosen guests are fashionista Birdie (Kate Hudson), scientist Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.), fitness guru Duke (Dave Bautista) and his very young girlfriend, Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), rising local politician Claire (Kathryn Hahn), and an old business partner Andi (Janelle Monáe). Upon their arrival, Miles informs them they are entering into a murder mystery, but as feuds between the guests begin to arise that were not part of Miles’ plan, the fun dinner party game results in a tragedy with some very real consequences. 

Writer/Director Rian Johnson bakes up another twisted case that only Benoit Blanc can solve, turning Knives Out (2019) into the launchpad of a franchise with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery; unraveling on Netflix after the widest reaching, yet still limited windowed, theatrical release for the streamer earlier this year hitting some 600 screens over the Thanksgiving frame. The 140-minute film comprises of an entirely fresh cast, save for Craig’s Blanc, much in the style of Agatha ChristIe’s Hercule Poirot mysteries. Without being tethered to the past, Johnson is able to break open a whole new story while maintaining the pointed commentary, albeit still heavily modern like the first installment, while still keeping things fresh because of the new location and characters. Of its time humor, as we have seen in some of the decades-old comedies today, can be seen almost as inaccessible when viewed through a modern lens, and while Glass Onion has enough material that it creates so that it may on its own, it reaches levels of unintentional timeliness given some parallels between Miles and Elon Musk who is in the midst of his own billion-dollar meltdown and it will be curious to see how attitudes surrounding that develops over time as attitudes towards wealth and disruption in the tech fields continue to evolve seemingly by the day. 

Glass Onion gets off to a rough start, least of all because of the character introductions which are handled quite well, but the film has a very blunt handling of Covid protocol on screen. Safety is important, but it is not only jarring to see it presented, the various far-aligned opinions held by the characters are exhausting to sift through again. Films, especially ones such as this, are supposed to offer a bit of an escape, but presenting the Covid reactions of the elite on screen so matter-of-factly just creates roadblocks to navigate around when Johnson has to create more narrative reasons why protocol can then be set aside when the future suspects board the luxury ferry to the island. It extends the first act unnecessarily, and these views do not inform the characters any more than they have already been set up, so it is an odd choice to make especially since the pandemic really does not play into the greater arc of the plot in any way that could not have just been reworked with some minimal changes. 

Thankfully, once on the island and the grand tour of the titular Glass Onion, a modern mansion built by Miles complete with an infinity pool, robotic doormen, and the actual Mona Lisa painting along with all the other creature comforts that can only be bought by exorbitant amounts of money is complete, audiences can begin piecing together who all these people are and why they would even know each other. Unlike Knives Out – which featured a much more traditional murder mansion, and the mystery took the characters out and about around town – Glass Onion percolates given its island setting leaving the motley crew of suspects nowhere to run or hide from one another. It plays out much more farcical than its predecessor, too, which helps fold in new avenues for physical, almost slapstick, humor, in addition to the sharp wit, as everyone crosses paths and trips over each other, unaware of who is watching them. 

As for the mystery itself, Glass Onion takes a while to get there, and shortly after it does arrive it flips the narrative on its head and starts over, and then when it reaches an impasse it flashes back to revisit the action from another perspective. Miles’ plan is to stage his own murder for his friends to solve, but when Blanc spoils the fun by solving the “crime” before it happens, the party retires to the lounge for conversation and cocktails until Duke collapses on the ground after his drink was spiked, and the investigation into who poisoned Duke becomes the main driving question for the second half of the film, further complicated by a power outage that sends the suspects scrambling.  

For the cynics, Glass Onion does play a few cheap tricks on audiences to keep the narrative twisted. Firstly, Monáe’s Andi is a twin, and the “Andi” we see in the first half is revealed to be her sister Helen. The second trick is the fake-out death of Helen right before the time jump back before the party where all the pieces begin to come together. It is not that either of these tricks are bad, perse, and they are staples within the genre, but coming off of Knives Out which was a lot more precise about dismantling the common tropes, they do seem ever so slightly out of place here. That being said, it is in this second half where the film begins to really take off into an exciting joy ride as we rewind and race back towards the smoking gun. Everything has its payoff, and because so much of this film is treated like a joke, it never feels too cute or clean but rather just a punchline to a setup we did not realize was even a setup when it was laid out some forty minutes prior. 

Looking beyond the franchise limits, a comparison between Glass Onion and Bodies Bodies Bodies could be made, but it is both a disservice to Glass Onion and falsely elevates the zillennial nightmare sleepover, but the two share a lot in common: a farcical murder mystery in a big, dark house steeped with class commentary. As the gap between the haves and have-nots only continues to grow, more and more films dissecting this matter will undoubtedly continue to make their way to the screen. If anything, a more appropriate thematic comparison comes from The Menu with the very blunt messaging damning those with the wealth, power, and influence to enact change but instead sit back and squander. Miles’ crew refers to themselves lovingly as “the disruptors” for shaking up the status quo and reaping the rewards. All of these people are working selfishly for their own interests, and while Johnson imbues his script with enough humor that they become caricatures of tabloid billionaires in real life, it is clear that this modern class system is worrisome to Johnson who writes Blanc and Helen as the stand-in for the everyman, in a similar way to how Ana de Armas was utilized in Knives Out. As far as the messaging goes, Glass Onion’s predecessor has some stronger convictions against the dangers of the accumulation of massive wealth as it shows the rot this has caused within the family dynamic, and this sequel never quite hits as hard on those points, almost because it is trying to accomplish a little too much with the various sectors of society which its characters are involved. 

Given the nature of these films, Blanc can be returned to again and again in perpetuity until either Johnson or Craig feel they have mined the character of everything he has. The biggest challenge that lies ahead for the franchise will be whether Johnson can change the central messaging about class and wealth to focus on other plaguing concerns. He has proven his ability to write comedy that is of a moment but wide enough to work outside of the social landscape of its release, and while the fresh faces will certainly help breathe life into the subsequent films, Blanc will need to contend with some new issues or the franchise will quickly become stale. For what it is, though, Glass Onion is an exciting mystery once it breaks out of its clunky first act where Johnson is setting up his dominoes. While detractors of Knives Out will probably find themselves equally frustrated by Glass Onion’s similar DNA, fans of Blanc will be thrilled to see him hot on the tail of another case and possibly even curious to see what web we will find himself ensnared in next.