Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Rian Johnson is boss! Glass Onion successfully continues to revive the rules of the old school of detective fiction, and Daniel Craig is still enjoying Benoît Blanc immensely. Naturally, you expect a moment of surprise and therefore anticipate some of the betrayals. The cast is interesting, but it’s certainly not as good as in the first film. Edward Norton revels in these roles and Kate Hudson is entertaining, the others rather support the well-written script. The Greek island setting, enlivened by hig-tech gimmicks and amenities (the non-smoking garden) and artwork, is as impressive as the Glass Onion itself. (25/12/2022)

Benoit Blanc is back, and with him the island's rich man, a bunch of suspects and one dead body! And it's as brisk, intelligent and gripping as the first film. Different case, but the same approach, the humour spot-on, the characters are entertaining, the visuals are colourful and the motif is clever again. Anyone who liked the first one should definitely not miss this one. (25/12/2022)

Satisfaction. It’s not a gem of whodunits and it doesn’t give the viewers a literal conclusion like the first Knives Out. The problem is the messy ending, when things get quite anarchic. On the other hand, I've rarely been so immersed in a film this year that I've tried to get to the bottom of it – which I didn't, thumbs up for some of the twists and turns. In short, Glass Onion works as a completely immersive whodunit and will keep you entertained. And thumbs up also for the very imaginative and substantial cameo roles, two of which sound very, very rare in the current context. (30/12/2022)

Rian Johnson plays with genre expectations in Glass Onion the same way he did in the first film, while staying true to classic whodunnit stories. If I were to take away the criticisms right from the start, I would have shortened the film, especially in the more drawn-out intro (which actually nicely parodied various CSIs and degraded the search for clues), and also the conclusion, which felt too drawn out after the culprit was revealed. The investigation itself, on the other hand (including the crucial flashback and starting with the wonderfully staged pre-murder sequence), completely captivated me and kept my (rusty) grey brain cells busy until the final denouement. Even in his second whodunit, which, among other things, shamelessly flatters Knox's Rule #10, Johnson certainly doesn't lose his breath, offering another suspenseful and unpredictable crime story with plenty of imaginative moments (whether it was the "casting" of Angela Lansbury, the character of Derola, Da Vinci's masterpiece or the ubiquitous gong). (31/12/2022)

When it comes to Agatha Christie, what kind of whodunit is it when the revelation of the perpetrators is a yawn for the detective (and even twice)? An onion that won’t make you cry with laughter and only released some juice after a shot through glass. The satirical backdrop of the golden nipple and the loss of mammal loyalty after its emptying is not particularly groundbreaking, and even though Rian Johnson built the best moments on small details, they didn’t create a functioning whole. Benoit Blanc seemed more balanced compared to the first film. Perhaps it was due to the Greek climate and his marriage to Hugh Grant. By the way, there were about two times when the cut came on a close-up of Craig, and the next began with notable music and a captivating shot of a floating boat in exotic settings. It was hard not to remember it, but what can you do now...? (25/01/2023)