Break Through the Center of the Glass Onion with Benoit Blanc’s Next Great Mystery!

After launching the most successful original franchise of the past decade with ‘Knives Out,’ Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig are back, this time playing for Netflix, as they take Benoit Blanc on an escape from lockdown to solve his most explosive case yet in ‘Glass Onion.’

Despite being set during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson has blown up the scope of this new mystery rather than scale it down. The setting is bigger, the stars are bigger, the twist is bigger and the satire is so shockingly on point that it feels like it was written last month instead of nearly two years ago.

Our intrepid southern detective Benoit Blanc (played by Daniel Craig with even more endearing charm this time around) is summoned to a Greek island by eccentric billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) to join his eclectic collection of friends in an elaborate murder mystery party. Blanc quickly suspects that Miles’ make-believe murder could quickly turn real-life deadly, as each guest carries their own motive for wanting the host dead. The game is afoot, and the accusations start to fly.

Once again, in keeping with the tradition of great whodunnits, the all-star cast is top tier. Standouts include Norton’s craven billionaire, Janelle Monáe as his captivating, mysterious rival, Kate Hudson in the best role she’s landed in years (delivering possibly the greatest punchline of 2022) and Dave Bautista as Not Joe Rogan. Sadly, Jessica Henwick is once again not given nearly enough to do in a new franchise role, but with a cast this big there's only so much screen time to go around.

The larger than life characters are matched by the world created around them. Gone are the quaint country mansion and warm woolen sweaters of ‘Knives Out.’ Miles’ island resort does everything big - flashy new-wave technology, garishly modern crystal decor, balmy Mediterranean sunshine, colorful high fashion and, of course, a massive glass onion perched glistening above it all.

It makes for a very different mystery from what came before, and fans should definitely go in knowing that it won’t just be “Knives Out 2.” But the new style keeps things fresh, and the excess never feels jarring, never feels as if it has jumped the shark, because it is all clearly intentional, designed in accordance with the story that Johnson is trying to tell. Blanc, of course, remains the same - as all-at-once out of place and in his element amidst the new money backstabbing as he was with the family drama of the original outing. And that is the key to any mystery series - a detective who can carry themselves unscathed through any new reinvention of the rules around them and keep their fans coming back for more.

If there is a crack in the glass of this new puzzle (outside of a few clumsy continuity errors created by the fast-paced edits), it comes in the final act, and I will avoid discussing that in detail here due to the obvious spoilers. But to speak in generalities, Johnson loves subverting the expectations of the whodunnit genre and finding new ways to play outside the rules. ‘Knives Out’ was famed for those twists, and there they worked exceedingly well. But in ‘Glass Onion,’ the story is rooted in deceptive simplicity. When the twist is thrust upon a narrative that is meant to be so simple, incongruencies begin to appear. Character choices begin to be called into question in retrospect and the contrivances of the plot become clear along with the conclusion.

While this script may not be as tidy as its predecessor, it is every bit as thrilling and hilarious, perhaps even more-so, as befitting the expansion in scale. I for one remain fully onboard to follow Benoit Blanc on more adventures. Judging by the packed house I sat in when I was lucky enough to catch ‘Glass Onion’ in theaters during its solitary weekend release, I’m not alone. Hopefully next time Netflix learns from the money left on the table this year and gives the third case a proper theatrical run. And hopefully Johnson takes a deep breath and remembers he doesn’t have to try so hard to be more clever than the genre.

Just cue up the board, prop up the pieces and let Blanc do the rest.