Stupidly Obvious, Yet Obviously Brilliant: "Glass Onion" Review
"Glass Onion", the sequel to "Knives Out", released at the end of 2022. This murder mystery movie is brilliant, yet so stupidly obvious.
Glass Onion Cover Image, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/661374-glass-onion-a-knives-out-mystery/images/posters
When Knives Out released, it had such an incredible plot. A man had reportedly committed suicide, but when foul play was suspected, Benoit Blanc was called in to uncover the true cause of death while sorting through all kinds of family drama the entire time. With each possible lead to who the true murderer was, another twist would appear to make you wonder if you had the right suspect. The way director Rian Johnson tied the film’s many threads together was so well done and perfect. Glass Onion is similar in the sense of drama and a few twists, but the plot is so obvious that it actually is brilliant, so much so that I was mad at myself for not being aware of things that were dangled right in front of me.
The movie’s title says it all: Glass Onion. A Glass Onion is something that would have layer after layer of it peeled away, just like an onion, but in the end, you’d realize that it’s actually transparent. That device sums up the entire plot. Everyone would expect the film to be well thought out and highly complex like its predecessor, but in reality, it didn’t have to be. Instead of slowly revealing who the murderer is, the film immediately tells you who it is with the most stupid hints ever so that nobody would ever assume that it’s stupid, thus having the plot fool all of the audience while leaving the murderer in plain sight the whole time.
This kind of thing is so stupidly obvious that it becomes obviously brilliant. Most people when they’re watching a murder mystery film try to figure out who the murderer is alongside the detective. Johnson knew that and designed the plot to fool the audience into that same mindset of them trying to find the murderer when in reality, he tells you exactly who it is very early on in the film. Outside of the plot, the cast was amazing.
Cast of Glass Onion at a dinner scene, https://www.showbizjunkies.com/movies/glass-onion-a-knives-out-mystery-photos-premiere-date/
Each member of the movie’s cast works so well for their role. Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc is incredible as ever but casting some names that are popular such as Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, and Edward Norton works so well and the chemistry between all of them is perfect. Norton’s character acts like a friend to everyone, Odom Jr. and Hahn act like longtime friends, and Bautista is the brutish friend of the crew. This cast works so good together, I’d even say it beats the cast from the first film.
Knives Out was a brilliant murder mystery film upon release, but Glass Onion arrived and beat the first film in terms of casting, flow, and plot. If you have a chance to watch this film, it’s totally worth it because the murderer is so stupidly obvious, yet so obviously brilliant.