Written and Directed by Rian Johnson
Starring Daniel Craig, Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, Ed Norton
Rated PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours, 19 minutes
In theaters November 23, streaming on Netflix December 23

by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring

In an age obsessed with continuity, legacy, and interconnected stories, even an old-fashioned sequel–the kind where it doesn’t matter if you’ve seen the previous installment or not–feels like a relief. In Glass Onion, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns, and in the tradition of other sleuths like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, is pitted against a whole new cast of characters in solving a murder.

Our new cast is introduced as they each receive an elaborate and ornate puzzlebox from their friend, Miles Bron (Ed Norton). They range from his colleagues, Andi (Janelle Monáe) and Lionel (Leslie Odom, Jr.), to Gov. Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), a supermodel-turned-fashion designer Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), and Duke (Dave Bautista), a men’s rights YouTuber. This eclectic group gets together each year so they can show off their wealth and fame, reveling in their own success. The final box is delivered to Benoit Blanc. While he works through solving it on his own, Miles’ friends collaborate on working through them. In the end, they are all summoned to his private Greek island for a murder mystery game. 

Once they arrive, they find that Miles’ island is basically a James Bond lair as envisioned by a tech billionaire. There’s a lot of lip service spoken to concepts of zen, mindfulness, and serenity, but it’s just a veneer on top of showy opulence. In reality, much of Glass Onion is spent teasing out this kind of hypocrisy. The celebrity class is largely performative in their activism. They say (and sometimes) do the right thing, but their narcissistic drive renders them incapable of empathy or consideration for anyone who isn’t them. That’s the case for all of the friends in this group. Linking these kinds of people together, especially Claire and Duke, who would seem to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but are able to hang out for a week together, shows just how much of a facade public figures mostly are. All “self-made” in the sense that they are all new money, there is a fragility to their success. The kind that would drive them to kill. It’s a theme Rian Johnson previously explored in Knives Out, where a dependence on the success of others can make people feel so vulnerable that they are forced to make dramatic moves.

At the center of it all is Miles. While wildly successful, he feels similar to Ed Norton’s character from The Italian Job remake. In that movie, Norton’s character is chastised by the rest of the thieves for lacking imagination. When they discover what he’s done with his money, they discover he simply copied each of his companions’ fantasies. When it comes to extravagance, he collects expensive things the way others collect junk. It doesn’t seem to matter what it is, as long as it is expensive. The only exception might be his obsession with the Mona Lisa, and his goal to create something so significant it is talked about long after he’s dead. Like Steve Jobs and Lydia Tár, Miles has his own “reality distortion field” made on personal charisma and the air of accomplishment. The message here is that to be successful, one just needs to be successful and ‘attract’ more. Miles isn’t the only one in his friends circle that engages in magical thinking, but he might be the most successful at it. With Elon Musk buying Twitter and Elizabeth Holmes going to prison, the timing of Glass Onion could not be more perfect. 

Tonally, Glass Onion is angrier than Knives Out, and it is easy to get the impression that the more success Rian Johnson has, the more he interacts with similar kinds of people. Part of what makes Glass Onion so much fun is the biting satire. Johnson doesn't point to these characters in an attempt to show how obviously bad they are. Rather, their particular brand of vile unfurls over the course of the film as Benoit Blanc learns more about each of them. Seeing them get put in their place is satisfying, and this is only enhanced by how good the performances are across the board. Kathryn Hahn’s Claire feels so true to life it would be easy to imagine her on MSNBC constantly. My particular favorite is Kate Hudson, who plays up vapid and self-centered note perfectly, but it’s also just nice to see her in a role where she’s getting to dig into a character that also has some things going on under the surface. 

Benoit Blanc glides through it all. We learn a bit more about his personal life, which is delightful, of course. But we also see how Blanc uses flamboyance as a way to disarm his suspects. In Knives Out, his dealings with the Thrombey family were predicated on intimidating them with his reputation. Here, he plays up being slightly uncomfortable and trying to enjoy an unplanned vacation with strangers in order to get others to underestimate him. Daniel Craig continues to be a delight in this role, and much of the rewatchability with these whodunits is just watching Craig work. 

Glass Onion isn’t breaking new ground, but it isn’t trying to, either. A fun caper with just enough bite to give it some meaning, it’s the kind of entertainment that is easy to recommend. 

For more on Glass Onion and Rian Johnson’s process, check out my interview with him from the Philadelphia premiere.