Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

[Eric the Fall Guy]

Discuss

[Cap]

THE ZOOM CALL 🥹

[excel1]

Love and appreciate how different this is from the first film outside of Blanc's presence. Kept waiting for some cheesy connection and it never came. Reminder that Ed Norton is great, Monae is great too, Kate Hudson's character is hilarious - between her and Toni Collette in the first film, Johnson clearly knows how to write this type. Top-tier mystery-comedy is definitely a winning combo.

 

Only downside is that kind of like the first one, the end culprit turns out to be exactly we suspected all along.

[dudalb]

Really enjoyed it.

The MCU is well rerpesnted with  Dave Bautista, (Drax in GOTG) Katherine Hahn (Agatha in Wandavsion) and Edward Norton ( Hulk in the 2008 Hulk film) And a sort of cameo by Jeremy Renner...

And, yes, they do use the Beatles White Album song in the movie....

[filmlover]

A Knives Out Mystery   @Eric Claus

 

The first Knives Out was one of the most delightful and unexpected surprises of the last couple of years. I don't think this works nearly as well, since I preferred the hilarious dysfunctional family dynamics of that movie and the ensemble here doesn't nearly click as well as the previous group of strong actors did, but this is a very worthy follow-up. Rian Johnson clearly has a great eye for detail and ensures these movies will hold up to repeat viewings with plenty of little amusing details in the background (my favorite: the little luggage robot) while always keeping the viewer invested in the resolution to the mystery. Daniel Craig clearly has more fun playing Blanc even more than he ever did playing Bond, and he remains the highlight among many in the cast: Edward Norton and Janelle Monae (in two roles!) are the standouts, Kate Hudson is a riot in what arguably has to be the best role she's been given since Almost Famous (her sad excuse for a mask during the meeting at the dock lmao), a hilariously random cameo from Ethan Hawke, as one of many surprises we find here (we even get farewell appearances from Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim).

 

It's another winner that reinforces what a talent Johnson is behind the camera. I could watch at least another half-dozen of these.

 

B+

 

Also, I know it's been talked about in the box office section a lot already, but Netflix really messed up not giving this a regular theatrical release. I saw this with a packed audience Saturday that was completely into it throughout. These movies were made to be seen in theaters.

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

It was a fun ride, though the other Disrupters didn't seem broken up enough to learn Cole murdered Andi. I don't know if I believed them as a friend group (maybe if they'd known each other from college?) or if I liked the extended flashback. What a random Frank TJ Mackey shoutout.

 

Setting the story during a specific point in the pandemic was a good way to incorporate Covid without trying to be The Seminal Coronavirus Movie. There was a great bit of character development in the different ways everyone approached masking.

 

What timing for the ultimate villain to be a billionaire tech guru who's actually not all that smart. I enjoyed the celebrity archtypes being skewered and wonder which types of rich a-holes Knives Out 3 will inevitably tackle.

[Hatebox]

Thought this was fun, though like the first about 20 minutes too long and the payoff wasn’t quite as cathartic as you want it to be.
 

When they make the next one I hope they change it up from some rich entitled asshole being brought down by an underdog who’s the bait and switch main character. That party trick won’t work a third time.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Hatebox

[Webslinger]

With Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, it feels like writer-director Rian Johnson has succeeded in making lightning strike twice. From the outset, it seemed inevitable that a continuation of his Benoit Blanc character would be fun, but produce diminishing returns. What we get with Glass Onion, however, is a film that somehow succeeds in feeling just as enjoyable, clever, well-constructed, and thematically interesting as its predecessor. As with the first film, I was hooked from start to finish and delighted in Johnson’s approach to untangling the mystery at the film’s center. Also as with the first film, it works as a clever skewering of wealth and privilege, successfully using the covid-19 pandemic as the backdrop for a critique of corrupt rich people trying to ride their privilege to avoid accountability and consequences. Once again, the craft elements of the film are well utilized, with the cinematography successfully directing – and misdirecting – attention, eye-catching production design, and clever use of visual storytelling to communicate important details. The starry cast – all-new apart from Daniel Craig and Johnson regular Noah Segan (in an entirely different minor role this time out) – is also once again a top-flight ensemble operating at the peak of its powers. Craig is once again having a blast as Benoit Blanc, letting loose now that he is free from the Bond franchise and leaning all the way into the comedic character touches he brings to the part. Among the newcomers, the standout is Janelle Monáe in a winning, expertly crafted performance that further demonstrates why they should be a much bigger star. By turns enigmatic and hilarious, Monáe expertly displays their range of cinematic talents in a manner that builds upon the strengths of their earlier performances in Moonlight and Hidden Figures six years ago. Edward Norton is also tons of fun as the shamelessly smarmy billionaire who invites the players to his private island residence, and Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Leslie Odom, Jr., Jessica Henwick, and Madelyn Cline all get their standout moments in a script that creates room for each of them to leave a solid impression. (And that’s to say nothing of all the cameos!) Even with such a high bar to match, Glass Onion makes all its big crowd-pleasing swings look easy, and it delivers one of the most thoroughly entertaining viewing experiences of the year. Just like the first one, I will revisit it many times over. 

 

A

 

Also, it is a SIN that this didn't get a full theatrical release. As much fun as it was just to watch this film at home (and as fun as I'm sure it will be to go and watch it again with my parents later tonight), it would have brought the house down in just about any crowded multiplex. With how much fun it is and how little there has been in the last two months outside of Avatar and Black Panther, I feel like this would have made an easy $200 million domestic if given the same theatrical rollout as the first film.

[marveldcfox]

This was good, but not as good as the original. The original feels timeless. 

[DAJK]

12 hours ago, marveldcfox said:

This was good, but not as good as the original. The original feels timeless. 

My thoughts exactly. 

[MOVIEGUY]

I was kinda enjoying the "setup" portion of the film more than what came after the twist, and agree that Knives Out is better overall but still enjoyed this.

[George Parr]

I agree with the "fun but not as good as the first one" comments. In a way it reminds me of the last the Jumanji movies, were the 2017 one was awesome but the follow up couldn't quite keep up. The mysteries and twists weren't quite a match for the first one either.

 

Overall, I'd say 8/10, compared to 9 or 9.5 for Knives Out.

[CoolioD1]

i thought johnson would be bold enough to try something different but this is just a more annoying version of the first one. i just don't think he's very good at writing murder mysteries i guess. it's gonna age like milk.

[George Parr]

11 hours ago, CoolioD1 said:

i thought johnson would be bold enough to try something different but this is just a more annoying version of the first one. i just don't think he's very good at writing murder mysteries i guess. it's gonna age like milk.

Huh?

Glass Onion has little resemblance to Knives Out. It is a rather clear departure from what he did with the first one.

 

And if he wasn't good at writing murder mysteries, then Knives Out wouldn't have had a great reception either (not to mention that this one has a rock solid one as well).

[interiorgatordecorator]

much worse than the first one, more interested in trying to be clever than in actually being fun

[Flip]

The ending of this movie is so disjointed and messy, it felt like it took twice as long as it should've and neddlessly catered to the Hollywood need for a happy ending. I was expecting all of them to die in the explosion but in the end they all just... survive? I really had wished that the story stayed on the track with the first plot introduced, because the second act really suffers from having to work as exposition for both the final and first act. I was more interested before the twist than after because the twist really reduces the relevance of the side characters and removes all the intrigue around who was attempting to kill Miles. It's nice the end theme that the billionaire is stupid but has delusions of grandeur, but the movie as a whole is really held up by the stellar first hour or so which expertly introduces every character and everything we need to now about them along with the dilemma Blanc faces. It's unfortunate that Johnson decided to abandon it. 

 

6/10

[JustLurking]

Will go against the current and say I preferred it to the first one; while the culprit is pretty obvious once the actual plot is underway, it does a better job at avoiding predictability in some of its subplots, and I had more fun with the cast this time around. The antics can drag a bit during the first act, but I had a lot of fun.

 

8/10