On December 23, Netflix premiered the highly anticipated pre-New Year's film 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' by Rian Johnson. The sequel to the 2019 hit comedic detective story, of course, falls short of the original, but remains just as socially...
In 2019, Rian Johnson released the first part of 'Knives Out' with an incredible star-studded cast. Box office success, flattering reviews, and an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay did their job. Many viewers forgot about the controversial eighth episode of 'Star Wars' and began to anticipate the continuation of the burgeoning detective franchise. In the spring of 2020, Netflix acquired the rights to the next two installments, paying $450 million in a bidding war against Amazon and Apple.
And now, three years later, the sequel titled 'Glass Onion' was released on the 'tudum' platform, making it a major pre-New Year's premiere, similar to last year. A star-studded cast, sharp social satire, an obvious parody of the genre. It seems Netflix is developing a new tradition. So far, no clear missteps, so let's keep our fingers crossed.
On December 24, Netflix premiered Adam McKay's new comedy 'Don't Look Up' with a star-studded cast. Opinions on the film are divided, but it definitely has
Open materialWhat's the Plot?
May 2020. The height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The world is remote. Some try to work, some have fun, some loaf around. In these troubled times, oligarch and head of Alpha Industries, Miles Bron (Edward Norton), decides to gather a group of friends on his private island in Greece for a detective game. The billionaire is supposedly going to be killed, and the 'Disrupters' (as their motley crew calls themselves) must 'solve the case'.
Bron sends out five puzzle invitations to each guest. Eventually, a peculiar group of characters gathers on the island in a building called the 'Glass Onion' — Connecticut Governor Claire (Kathryn Hahn), the dim-witted former model and current fashion designer Birdie (Kate Hudson), who is everywhere accompanied by her assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick), streamer and men's rights advocate Duke (Dave Bautista), who brought along his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), Alpha Industries' chief scientist Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.), and former business co-owner Andi (Janelle Monáe).
By chance, 'the world's greatest detective according to Google' — Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) — also receives an invitation. On the very first day, the sleuth spoils all the fun for the rich folks by solving the pseudo-crime before it even starts, but then a real murder occurs. Someone drinks a glass of poisoned beverage intended for Miles Bron. Now Blanc must identify the poisoner from among the guests, each of whom has a motive to attempt the billionaire's life.
Living Large is Not a Crime
Rian Johnson has once again assembled an orchestra of Hollywood celebrities (though not as impressive as the original) to masterfully play fools and scoundrels in circumstances where Benoit Blanc seems like the smartest and most sane person on earth. No questions, the main highlight of 'Glass Onion' belongs to Daniel Craig, who tries to move away from the role of James Bond after last year's premiere. He brilliantly plays dumb, waves his arms, and acts like a magnificent detective. But the other actors also have plenty to do on screen.
The long-awaited Bond film 'No Time to Die' is coming soon. Let's see how it turned out.
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Edward Norton turns the parody of a collective image of tech billionaires up to the max (easily recognizable are Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and others). Kathryn Hahn constantly keeps her face on the edge of stoic composure and anguished sobbing. Dave Bautista plays a human version of Drax, defending men's rights but getting slapped by his mother. And Kate Hudson masterfully transforms into a stereotypical blonde, capable of setting herself up with the next tweet.
But the most amusing thing is seeing the many, perhaps pointless, cameos of stars appearing, like Matt Murdock in — aimlessly. For example, Ethan Hawke just pops up out of nowhere for two minutes , injects some antidote for coronavirus into the characters, and disappears from the film. Or Hugh Laurie , appearing as an episodic character who is either a boyfriend or a roommate of Benoit Blanc. Such a parade looks funny and logical in a film like this. Rian Johnson is simply showing that he has the ability to include all of them in the project. Like an adult child fulfilling his cherished wishes, he fills 'Glass Onion' with meaningless but amusing layers.
On December 15, 'Spider-Man: No Way Home', Marvel's biggest blockbuster this year, was released. The most anticipated project of the winter. The most ambitious Spider-Man film. The most, most
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'I've always dreamed of working with Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim (the sequel is dedicated to their memory, by the way). Hmm, why not call them up and invite them to participate in a scene where they play Among Us via Zoom with Benoit Blanc?' Done.
'I wish Joseph Gordon-Levitt would record just one word for the film, 'Dong!', which would sound on the island, marking each hour. Hmm, that's an idea.' Done.
'Damn, Noah Segan already played a different character in the first part. But what difference does it make? I give him a role in every one of my films. Why should the sequel be an exception?' Done.
Isn't that funny? In my opinion, this is any director's dream: to bring his jokes to life at a Hollywood level with celebrities of any scale, without unnecessary questions or bewilderment from those around him.
Castle of Glass
Naturally, 'Glass Onion', like the first part, is not exactly a detective story. First and foremost, it is Rian Johnson's sharp social commentary on the oligarchy. At times, of course, the director overdoes it and gets too carried away with criticizing rich white people, portraying them as almost absolute evil. The billionaires, whose image is parodied by Edward Norton, get the brunt of it. It turns out as if they are the biggest threat to modern society, capable of taking control of everything: from politics to internet streams. Miles Bron even gets a whole monologue about 'disrupting' the established system, and it's doubly amusing that these words come from Norton, who played the lead role in 'Fight Club'.
The sequel, of course, falls short of the first 'Knives Out'. As they say, the pipe is lower, and the smoke is thinner. The cast is not as star-studded, the jokes are not as subtle, the plot is not as brilliant and witty. But taken separately from the original, 'Glass Onion' is a great movie. It has lost some of its swagger, but what can you do? Everyone knows that sequels rarely reach the top. Especially since the difference here is insignificant. So what complaints could there be? An extremely simple mystery and lack of complexity? A ton of name-dropping and pop culture references? Overdoing the criticism of the oligarchy? Perhaps only the last point is justified. For everything else, one can say: 'Don't forget what kind of movie you're watching'.
'Knives Out' is not a pure representative of the genre in the vein of 'Death on the Nile'. It is satire. 'Scream' in the world of detective fiction. Judge for yourselves: the world's greatest detective, who cracks real cases like nuts, is completely unable to play Cluedo and Among Us and loses every time with a crash. For Blanc, any case goes smoothly: clues fall from the sky, important dialogues of suspects happen at just the right time. Craig's character is more of a comical fool in a striped summer suit than a great detective, and this should be kept in mind when making complaints about the excessive simplicity of the puzzle.
Rian Johnson builds both films on irony. He mocks the detective genre, hence the constant references in both parts to Miss Marple and Cluedo. Everything around seems saturated with detective fiction. Even in the soundtrack by Nathan Johnson, the well-known main musical theme of Sherlock Holmes is clearly audible.
Why even strictly judge the detective line if the film is not entirely about that? Yes, the killer and motive are obvious, as if taken straight from Scooby-Doo cartoons, but how brilliantly Rian Johnson tries to dissuade the viewer of their correctness and confuse them, only to then boldly declare that the solution was on the surface all along.
No matter how many layers this onion has, it is still transparent, and the core is visible through the glass. Again, returning to the comparison with the first part: there, the viewer is almost immediately told who the killer is. Then the game 'How to cover tracks?' simply begins, and surprisingly few people had complaints about the detective aspect. It feels like in three years, people have forgotten what 'Knives Out' actually is. Then, surprise, 'Don't Look Up' is also a so-so film about the end of the world.
What's the Verdict?
In general, 'Glass Onion' is a song by The Beatles that John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote as a message to fans and critics searching for hidden deep meanings in the band's work. The track was deliberately filled with numerous allusions and obscure images to mock the fanatical decoding of creativity. Returning to Johnson's film, it immediately becomes obvious why the sequel has such a title. The film is simply overflowing with pop culture references: from the characters' costumes and accessories to the constant mention of films and real names (like McCartney himself). The director seems to say: 'Maybe there is some meaning between the lines of all this, and maybe there isn't. Think for yourselves, I wash my hands of it and play you the Beatles over the credits. See you soon.'
Benoit Blanc puts on his skullcap again and returns to the bathroom, and we are left waiting until, in a couple of years, another murder of interest to him occurs somewhere (preferably among people deserving a good ribbing). Especially since Netflix bought the rights to two parts at once, so unless something extremely bad happens, a third film is on the way. In the meantime, there is reason to think about how real a threat modern billionaires pose to society. Maybe they are not cool guys at all, but villains eager to seize power and rule the world? Then think about whether you want to get rich after this. Or maybe, you haven't lived richly, so there's no point in starting.
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