Review: He Probably Thinks "GLASS ONION" is About Him

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 of 2025 (No. 2048) by Leroy Douresseaux

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

Running time:  139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)

Rating:  MPA – PG-13 for strong language, some violence, sexual material, and drug content

WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Rian Johnson

PRODUCERS:  Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Steve Yedlin (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Bob Ducsay

COMPOSER:  Nathan Johnson

Academy Award nominee

MYSTERY/COMEDY

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom, Jr., Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Noah Segan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ethan Hawke, Hugh Grant, and Serena Williams

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a 2022 mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson.  It is the sequel to the 2019 film, Knives Out.  The film is a “Netflix Original,” which began streaming on the service December 23, 2022, after a brief and limited theatrical release in November 2022.  Glass Onion finds Detective Benoit Blanc on the case of a tech billionaire who invites his cronies to his private Greek island to play a murder mystery game that results in an actual murder.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery takes place in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Miles Bron (Edward Norton), the co-founder of the technology company, “Alpha,” is hosting a murder mystery game at “the Glass Onion,” his mansion on a private island in Greece.  He sends invitations via intricate puzzle boxes to his friends, a group he called “the Disruptors.”  They are a diverse group:  Alpha head scientist, Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom, Jr.), Connecticut governor, Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn); controversial model-turned-fashion designer, Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson); and men's rights streamer and podcaster, Duke Cody (Dave Bautista).

There are two surprise guests to the island.  The first is ousted Alpha co-founder, Cassandra “Andi” Brand (Janelle Monae), who is estranged from Miles and the other Disruptors.  The second is world-famous private detective, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig).  In Miles murder mystery, he is the victim, and his guests have two days to solve his murder, but the arrival of Andi and Benoit are unexpected complications.  Things really get crazy when someone really ends up dead.  Can Benoit Blanc solve a murder when not everyone is who he or she is supposed to be?

Rian Johnson's 2019 whodunit, Knives Out, starts out with an excellent screenplay.  It offers an exercise in private eye genre elements and mystery fiction trappings played out with wild twists and turns and with a cast of lovably eccentric characters.  Knives Out is similar to and inspired by the works of the grand dame of mystery fiction, the late Agatha Christie (1890-1976), who also offered assemblages of intriguing outlandish and unconventional characters.  Knives Out's gold is in the characters, the type that character actors can use to chew up movie scenery.

Glass Onion does the same, but not to the extent of its predecessor.  Glass Onion offers unconventional characters, but Glass Onion's treasure is in Daniel Craig's Mr. Blanc and Janelle Monae's Ms. Bland.  Glass Onion is a process of the team of Blanc and Bland sneaking and snooping around Miles Bron's paradise lost island.  Blanc's supernatural attentiveness and Bland's unforgiving relentlessness are the spine of Glass Onion.  They pick apart the secrets and lies of the other characters until the liars are exposed and shamed and their guilt laid bare.

Both Craig and Monae should have received more award nominations than they did during the 2022-23 movie award season.  Still, this movie is a testament to their talents at creating endearing characters.  Kate Hudson also chews up quite a bit of scenery as the firecracker Birdie Jay, a character who deserves another spin at the cinematic wheel.  As Miles Bron, Edward Norton does the best allegorical skewering of Elon Musk outside of comedian Alex Biron.

I really enjoyed Glass Onion, although it is probably at least 10 minutes too long.  I laughed a lot, and the cathartic ending was a sweet sensation.  I watched Glass Onion in anticipation of the December 12, 2025 Netflix debut of the third Benoit Blanc film, Wake Up Dead Man.  However, I got more than I expected from this film because overall Rian Johnson created a superb mystery film series that is its own thing in spite of what inspired it.  Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is like fine crystal.  As a whodunit, it sparkles brilliantly.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, December 6, 2025

NOTES:

2023 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Rian Johnson)

2023 Golden Globes, USA:  2 nominations:  “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Daniel Craig)

The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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