Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

While the first **Knives Out** is undoubtedly more eerie and traditional when viewed alongside other murder mysteries, the modernity (both politically, and just through the characters and humour) is what makes this so dynamic, and so, so, great. Despite the already immense cast in the first production, this time around it still manages to feel so much grander. When actors like Ethan Hawke, Natasha Lyonne and Hugh Grant make mere cameos throughout, it just puts even more excitement into an already electrifying crowd. And each member of that crowd is amazing. The highlighting performances unsurprisingly include Daniel Craig, but Janelle Monet very well might take the cake. She completely surprised me and ended up bringing more to the film than anyone else, way more exuberant than I have ever seen her. Additionally, Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista were both so much fun, Norton was hilarious, and despite not having the largest role Madelyn Cline was really excellent too. The only two that I can't say I was the biggest fan of were Leslie Odom Jr. and Kathryn Hahn. Neither were exceptionally bad or anything, rather just a bit boring with the fact that they were two pretty large roles and not a lot of energy came from either of them. Even though the cast is the main attraction, the editing is also fantastic. Great use of split screens, timeline jumps, and just overall creativity too. All in all, it's one of the most entertaining mysteries in a while, and a new highlight of the year for sure. I am not usually fond of franchises but when Johnson announced during the Q&A that he had the intention on making countless more of these I became quite excited. See this as soon as you can because it is actually brilliant.

_Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery_ is a lighthearted murder mystery filled with effective comedy, fantastic performances, and a somewhat predictable plot. Overall, I had a great time with this film and the theater experience was one of my favorites of the year. The plot is somewhat similar to the first, a murder happens and Benolt Blanc is there to solve it. It hits all the familiar beats but does not work quite as well as its predecessor, this is mainly due to the characters. The performances were great and they work well in isolation from the overarching story, but all of them are such over-the-top caricatures that are hard to believe their connections or motivations to kill. Their banter with each other is charming and funny and helps carry this movie forward. The first quarter of this movie was pretty poorly done. A lot of the setup had pandemic references and humor that felt really out of place in 2022. So many movies before this have touched on those topics that it felt overdone and boring. Really interesting choice for this type of film, but once the characters get to the island all of that awkward setup is left on the mainland and the movie starts to find its footing. From this point forward, I had a great time. Daniel Craig was fantastic as Benolt Blanc and it was quite funny to see him as a fish out of water surrounded by corporate elites. The majority of the lines I laughed at were delivered by him with a dry pan sense of delivery. It was organic and played well on screen. Edward Norton was a fantastic addition and the majority of the cast did excellently. They were really funny and delivered the stereotyped character performances well. Much like the beginning of the movie, the last ten minutes did not work tremendously well for me. It was quite corny, over the top, and unrealistic. It diminishes the greatness of the middle of the film. Even though this movie fails to reach the heights of the original, it does enough to deliver a very entertaining mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is a shame that Netflix is only having a limited release for this film because it is best in a crowded theater on the silver screen. **Score:** _77%_ | **Verdict:** _Great_