Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery review: Making fun of the ultra-rich

The second installment of Rian Johnson's whodunit series reunites us with Daniel Craig's detective Benoit Blanc, charming Southern drawl and all. Set at the start of the pandemic, the film opens with a chuckle-inducing reel about the impact lockdown has had on Blanc, alongside the mandatory Zoom call.

Blanc is even dabbling in Among Us, another reference to a pandemic hit, which he is apparently ridiculously bad at.

However, it isn't long before Blanc has a new mystery upon his hands. He travels to Greece, tasked with peeling back the layers of a mystery with a cast of ever more colourful suspects at its centre.

The man of the hour is Miles Bron, an impeccably cast Edward Norton and delightful caricature of everything that is wrong with the ultra-rich today. Miles has made billions from his company, Alpha, and fancies himself a disruptor (that ever so vague buzzword that people like to throw about) who is about to unveil a game-changing hydrogen fuel that is supposed to revolutionise energy markets.

The parallels with new Twitter CEO Elon Musk are plain as day, and Miles is both immensely charismatic, capable of selling virtually anything, and a massive narcissist that cannot see past his bloated so-called genius. Like Musk, who contrary to popular belief did not start Tesla, the idea for Alpha did not come from Miles and instead from ex-CEO Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe).

Andi has been unceremoniously cut off from the company, but arrives for the vacation retreat nevertheless, to everyone's surprise.

In Greece, Blanc meets an eclectic cast of Miles' friends, who he has invited to spend the weekend at his lavish private estate. The guests are a chaotic mix of personalities who rely on Miles in different ways. There is Connecticut governor Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), former supermodel Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), and Twitch streamer Duke Cody (Dave Bautista).

Johnson uses these characters to rail against everything from certain questionable strains of liberal politics to the toxic narrative put forward by men's rights activists and the grandiose ambitions of Big Tech and those who just have way too much money. Miles even has the Mona Lisa in his island home. You might ask why, but that would be beside the point.

The show doesn't quite make the effort to develop each character beyond their purpose as a caricature, but the individual actors still make it incredibly fun to watch. Their performances are intentionally silly, and maybe that's okay. Bautista is particularly enjoyable to watch as Cody, a symbol of toxic masculinity who believes that men dominate the American workplace because they are biologically programmed with innate advantages.

Hudson also shines as Birdie, an airhead who has an unfortunate propensity to make racist remarks, and whose hapless assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick) is always trying to rein in. She thinks sweatshops are places that manufacture sweatpants, and her glorious buffoonery is the stuff of pure giggles.

But you're probably wondering — is this actually a murder mystery? Yes, yes, it is. However, unlike Knives Out, there are a lot more twists and turns along the way. The first victim isn't actually the main plot line, and a surprise second victim is thrust into the plot mid-way.

Like the titular onion, there are several layers to peel away in the film, in order to get at the heart of the true mystery. First, there is the playful murder mystery that Miles has set up, tasking his guests to uncover the culprit behind his fake murder. Then there's the reason Blanc is on the island in the first place. Only at the very end does Blanc get to lay out the real culprit and explain to us all what really happened — in true detective fashion.

Craig continues to shine in the role of the Southern detective, bringing both swagger and effortless confidence to the role. And in a sly wink to his Bond days, he quips that he is only a detective and will not be able to protect a certain character from bodily harm.

Unfortunately, the movie starts to flag toward the end. The murderer is exposed, but seemingly gets away on a technicality and an inexcusable sleight of hand that should really never have happened.

And while he still does appear to get his comeuppance in a blazing conflagration, the conclusion feels more like a whimper than a bang.

Glass Onion is streaming now on Netflix.

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