‘The Glass Onion’ review: Daniel Craig looks sharp in Netflix’s hilarious Whodunit

There is no mystery why Knives out Deserves a Sequel A movie that killed at the box office in 2019 gave director Rian Johnson and star Daniel Craig the perfect incentive to return for a sequel. The Glass Onion: The Mystery of the Knifenow streaming on Netflix.

But even with Netflix cash providing the opportunity, can they get away with murder again?

Fans of the first film will be prepared for a mystery with a twist, which means the sequel will have to work harder to surprise – risking trying too hard, losing the audience in the twist or straining credulity. Fortunately, however, Johnson’s second foray into Benoit Blanc’s SuperSlot is another twisty bit of fun, playing with the whodunit genre while being very funny.

In a first for the streaming service, Netflix played The Glass Onion in major US theater chains in November, but only for one week. It’s streaming on Netflix now, and it’s a great seasonal treat to round up the TV.

Craig returns as detective Loch Benoit Blanc, and this time he travels to Greece to investigate a new star-studded group. Edward Norton stars as a super-rich tech bro who collects his buds (and his hangers) with Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monae, Madeleine Klein, Jessica Henwick and Dave Bautista all gunning in their Speedos .

For the first time in his career, Craig played the simple-minded detective Blanc James Bondwhile Knives Out was writer/director Rian Johnson’s first palate cleanser since his divisive Star Wars film. the last jedi. But now both are free and clear of franchise baggage, and both appear to be relishing the opportunity to play. Craig plays Blanc’s comedic eccentricity and revels in post-Bond glamor (have you seen him New advertisement of legendary vodkareally?).

Johnson, meanwhile, revels in layering the complex plot. The invitation to the sunny gathering is in the form of a wooden puzzle box, and the entire film is made of puzzles within puzzles.

This multi-layered construction adds up to a very satisfying murder mystery. Among the suspects, Norton is devilishly calm, Hudson is in top form as a boisterous fashionista, and Bautista again excels at revealing hidden depths as the man-mountain Manosphere. Monae gives Craig credit as a character who — no, I’ve said too much. You have to follow the clues yourself.

There’s a sharp edge to the humor in the whodunit layer, which pokes fun at the rich people who are often the subject of these kinds of mysteries. On the surface, you can enjoy the golden sunshine and golden skin, the opulent setting and the flamboyant costumes – the muted colors and comfortable jackets of the first film look positively inconsequential next to the scale and extravagance of the sequel. But like other recent films that deconstruct the lifestyles of the shameless rich, such as Triangle of Sorrows, Bodies of Bodies or The Menu, part of the fun is knowing that these fat cats are about to emerge.

At the same time, The Glass Onion is almost, almost, just a little too pleased with itself. A forced Alexa joke and some funny but sad if you think there are covid gags, and just an overall vibe that veers dangerously close to the territory of the next Ocean’s 11 movie, where the big stars (and cameos) are grinning. laughing. Talk about a high priced vacation and I expect you to thank them for it.

But The Glass Onion invites you to laugh (albeit bitterly) at these quirky entrepreneurs and influencers. Where the first film takes aim at the obliviousness of inherited wealth, the sequel focuses on today’s modern innovators: social media freaks, embattled politicians and profoundly mindless tech types.

They are the kind of people who justify their self-centered mistakes as “disorders” and mistake their success as the product of their mystical “genius” rather than selfish ruthlessness supported by generous donations of other people’s money – And a lot. By sheer dumb luck when the knives come out, it’s fun to see them fall apart, but more than that, it’s a scathing critique of people who do things without understanding the consequences and hurt others by doing so. Johnson is probably watching The collapse of Elon Musk’s Twitter With great amusement (mixed, perhaps, with scandalous despair).

The original Knives Out was a loving homage to the classic murder mystery genre, with a twist. It’s a tricky trick that can be used twice: When you watch a whodunit, you pretty much know how it’s going to resolve, and now we’re ready to watch this movie.

The first Knives Out could have been a quirky curiosity, but it struck a chord with audiences and earned Johnson a 2020 Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. While slowly sending up the classic whodunit, it inspired a minor revival in the genre. (Yes, Murder on the Orient Express had a comparable box office two years earlier, but don’t tell me that Branagh’s Poirot would have gotten royalties without the success of Knives Out.) Netflix was certainly impressed enough to apparently pick it up. exhibited Lots of cash in Johnson for more Knives Out sequels. Which leads us to the only unsolved mystery to come out of the glass onion: Can Rian Johnson and Benoît Blanc kill again?