The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Himika Akram reporter
Does anyone remember the super entertaining murder mystery “Knives Out” from 2019? Well, the sequel is here. Director Rian Johnson’s sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” clearly shows he absolutely had a ball while making this “whodunnit” film; this time with a whole new case, cast, and everything. This is by far his most entertaining venture.
Daniel Craig is back in his charming aristocratic British avatar, who speaks in a Southern accent. With this movie, for the second time, Craig gets to play the role of detective Benoit Blanc (Ben-Waw, as it is pronounced). This movie was made against the backdrop of COVID-19; hence we get to see references to masks and zoom calls a couple of times. We see a depressed detective, who is in a pensive mood and spends a long time in the bathtub. He is frustrated due to not getting any new cases.
Then suddenly, this murder mystery came his way like a surprise gift for him. This time Ben is invited to a private island located in Greece to solve a murder mystery by a tech billionaire named Miles Bron (Edward Norton). Miles invited Ben along with six of his old friends, to solve this murder, which is a game where Miles himself would be murdered and Ben is set up to solve the mystery. Those six friends, who smugly call themselves “the disruptors,” every year gather in the house once to spend a luxurious vacation. The gang consists of a supermodel/ fashion designer (Kate Hudson) who is so dumb that sometimes she sticks her entire leg into her mouth, and her assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick); A politician (Kathryn Hahn), a research scientist (Leslie Odom Jr.), a meathead Duke (Dave Bautista) and his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline). Another invitee on this list is a woman named Cassandra who was once a business partner of Bron and helped him to establish his business emperor but later was ousted from the company by Bron and his lawyer without any money. Naturally, her arrival made every other guest uncomfortable. She also has a fall-out with the other members of the group, which unfolded a whole new mystery. Gradually, things started taking a serious turn, and everybody looked up to Ben to solve it.
The most laudable part of this movie is, not one artist took all the spotlights away. It was every cast member’s film. Despite being the most prominent star of the cast, the movie neither starts with Daniel Craig nor ends with him. Even though the director tried to tell the story through archetypes (Elon Musk through Bron’s character, for example), they were hilarious and convincing. Every artist brought life into the characters and made them a total delight to watch. One scene where Miles was seen wearing a particular outfit in a flashback scene would give the audience a big laugh for sure. Through the ensemble cast, the director did an excellent job at making humor by showing how the people feel about the rich crowd of society, and still like to be their posse. The identity of the real culprits starts unfolding in the second half of the story; but with Johnson’s exceptional storytelling skill, the audience would keep guessing every moment who could be the real one.
The movie is also filled with many unexpected turns; hence you cannot tell what is coming next. Johnson has certainly got a talent for telling murder mysteries in such a way that will give you that edge-of-the-seat kind of excitement. Alongside precise direction, the dialogues were well-crafted and would crack you up. As the name of the movie suggests, there are layers of layers to the mystery which would be unfolded gradually; but I am not going to reveal too much for you. There is a lot more to this movie and it is worth watching. It is a great combo of brilliant direction, production, and casting. If you have not watched it yet, it is released in the theatres on Nov. 23 and will be released on Netflix on Dec. 29. It has already earned 1-3-15 million during a 5-day stretch.
My personal rating of this movie is 8.5/10.