Knives Out : Glass Onion

By Joshua Xiang

Mystery brings back Benoit Blanc for another wildly entertaining mystery rounded out by an outstanding ensemble cast. Johnson certainly delights in creating puzzling distractions, but even if his film is as deep as a layer of onion skin, it is immensely engaging. "Glass Onion" gently mocks its characters, which is what makes it so enjoyable (Rotten Tomatoes)

The filmmaker is certainly following in the footsteps of other giants in the detective sub-genre, but what makes Knives Out: Glass Onions so satisfying is that they crave more than murder and red herring (misleading or distracting) mix-ups and intrigue. These elements are also at play, and on an almost epic scale in the latest release. Yet both films are also indictments of class and wealth in this country, both in terms of how those positions are valued and ultimately adored. Privilege creates mystery, and mystery is just another way of saying that builds up layers of murky truth—until, like John Lennon, you're looking at a glass onion.

Structurally, Glass Onion is bigger than Knives Out. The commission is still essentially set up as a locked room mystery with seven suspects, but with scope to maximize the relationship and settings. It is set in an entire villa on the sun-drenched Aegean Sea, Glass Onion happily takes its time at 140 minutes of narration. Instead of relying on a string of conflicting flashbacks and anecdotes, viewers and Benoit Blanc observe suspects in real-time. We also had a front-row seat to Miles Brown's delusional conceit, where he invited a group of supplicants, each of whom had a reason to want him dead to his home.

In summary, every characters' character positioning is very clear, each person plays a part in the story, and thankfully the end is not every single character is part of the crime, which is very cliche. The relationship tree isn't that complicated. The most exciting and intriguing part is how the twists are settled, and more than five twists are involved throughout the movie. It is obvious that not a lot of thoughtful inference or works hard understanding of the detail is needed for the audience to be impressed by the plot.