Glass Onion is the sequel to Knives Out, the movie where Daniel Craig puts on a British accent to play agent Bond and goes around chasing the baddies- no sorry, wrong movie. This is the movie where Daniel Craig puts on a heavy Southern accent to play detective Blanc and goes around chasing the baddies. This instalment, in what will likely turn into a popular franchise, is set on a Greek island where he is solving the murder of... well, that identity is kept secret until halfway through the film.

Knives Out was a massive success when it came out three years ago gaining $311 million at the box office; therefore, audiences were likely going to show up to this exciting sequel. But the creators of this movie did something that is actually becoming quite common in the movie industry. The movie has been released exclusively to Netflix, however, appeared in select cinemas for a week before its release on the streaming platform a couple of months later. My views on this tactic deserve their own article, however, sources speculate that the movie would have done better than Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Disney's Strange World (the other two successful movies released at the time) if it had been released as widespread as those films. This only proves that the Knives Out trilogy (or franchise or whatever it becomes) is extremely popular.

Glass Onion is a Netflix original movie. These movies have the stigma of being the movies that aren't good enough to be released in theatres. This theory isn't always true and certainly wasn't the case for Glass Onion. The movie was also made during the lockdowns of 2020/21. Both of these things were obviously working against the movie and at the earlier parts of the screening, I made a note that it was clear that this movie was a Netflix original movie made during lockdown. However, towards the end of the movie, this note was crossed out as the movie could easily compete with any other big-budget movie made during any period. In fact, this movie did something that not many other movies made (and set) in the last few years have done: it actually acknowledged the lockdowns and all the funny (and wildly stupid) things we had to do.

Luckily, Glass Onion was not only relying on the COVID jokes to bring humour to the movie. These jokes stayed around for the first parts of the movie but did not overstay their welcome long enough for all audience members to start getting PTSD. Glass Onion has many other funny things going about it. Daniel Craig's somewhat sketchy southern accent only adds to the silliness of his character which is in stark contrast to his most famous role (which, let's be honest, is the only other thing most of us have seen him in). All the other actors and actresses in this movie also fully commit to their roles. They are each cast perfectly in their respectful positions and do not disappoint. Glass Onion continues the tradition that was started in Knives Out of trying to get as many famous names into the movie as possible.

One thing that I didn't love about the original Knives Out was how confusing it was. To be honest, I probably wasn't giving the film my full attention so maybe that's partly on me. Nevertheless, Glass Onion thankfully learnt from this mistake (or I learnt from my mistake of not paying attention) and wasn't overly confusing. Any whodunnit has to have a certain degree of confusion to keep the audience entertained. This was seen in Glass Onion as the actual murderer wasn't easily guessable and the twists in the story were actually twists that the audience didn't see coming. However, the murderer's intentions were understandable and the twists weren't so twisty that the audience got lost.

Glass Onion is a step up from its predecessor. With another stellar cast, the jokes hit the nail right on the head. The movie has the perfect level of confusion and twists and shouldn't be held back by the year it was made or how it is released. Rian Johnson seems to have a real talent for directing these kinds of movies (many would say he should stay away from Star Wars but I won't - I'm not that mean of a reviewer) and I would love to see more movies join the Knives Out trilogy-franchise-thing.

Director: Rian Johnson

Starring: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline

Year released: 2022

My rating: 8/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 13/12/2023