Daniel Craig’s legendary detective Benoit Blanc returns to solve another murder in Rian Johnson’s entertaining and farcical whodunnit Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. After the unprecedented success of Knives Out in 2019, Johnson conjured up an even bolder and more brash murder mystery for the second installment that’s earned a place on our best Netflix movies list and is a must-watch if you haven’t already.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery features a star-studded cast, whose eclectic mix of characters soon fall under Blanc’s suspicious gaze when someone turns up dead at tech billionaire Miles Bron’s (Edward Norton) murder mystery party on his private Greek island. The well-to-do suspects include the likes of politician Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), supermodel-turned-designer Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), YouTuber and men’s rights activist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista), scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr) and Cassandra ‘Andi’ Brand (Janelle Monáe), Bron’s scorned former business partner, who has a bone to pick with everyone.
Glass Onion is an enjoyable mystery farce that hilariously uses A-listers to peel back the layers of ludicrous celebrity culture. Although an inevitable murder is about to unfold, the movie still manages to be a fun and energetic spectacle that’s filled with twists, turns, time jumps and surprise cameos that will put your head in a spin.
A killer winner
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery had a one-week exclusive theatrical release prior to landing on the best streaming service and managed to gross an estimated $13.3 million – an impressive achievement since it was only showing in 700 theaters across the US. Buzzfeed News noted in their positive review that they were disappointed that Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery didn’t stay in theatres for longer so viewers couldn’t indulge in the experience of watching the masterpiece on a big screen.
“Audiences had crammed in to see it while they could, but despite the demand, Netflix stuck to its strategy of releasing the movie in theaters briefly so as to generate buzz and word of mouth. But it is disappointing because Glass Onion is the kind of joyful movie-watching experience best relished with a group. When it arrives on Netflix on December 23, my advice is to gather as many friends and family as you can, put your phones in a box, dim the lights, and enjoy the ride,” the publication wrote.
Of course, the other factor that makes Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery a smash hit is the top tier cast that Johnson collated for his suave suspect line-up. Empire wrote: “He is surrounded, naturally, by another superb collection of potential murderers/murder victims, Johnson once again showing his knack for drawing from an embarrassment of acting riches. (If anything, it’s too good a cast, with superlative talents like Kathryn Hahn given less to do.) You could pick a different favourite each time you think about it, but particular praise must go to Janelle Monáe, showing versatile comedy chops for the first time in a complex role that requires both drunken pratfalls and if-looks-could-kill stares; and Kate Hudson, having a blast as an endlessly cancelled fashionista with a penchant for tweeting racial slurs.”
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t join the crazy party that is Glass Onion if you haven’t already.
