Review: GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY

COLOUR IN CINEMA

The second instalment in the Knives Out films written and directed by Rian Johnson follows the charming detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in another modern, camp take on a murder mystery. This instalment centres around tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), CEO of the all-powerful ‘Alpha’, a thinly veiled parody of Elon Musk. Each of the other characters - his loyal friends of two decades - receive a cryptic puzzle-box invitation, marked by an evil eye, requesting their presence on a private Greek island for his birthday party, in which they’ll play a murder mystery game.

Head scientist of his company, Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.), Governor Claire (Kathryn Hahn), fashion designer/ previously 90s it girl Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), men’s rights streamer Duke (Dave Bautista), and Alpha co-founder turned lawsuit instigator Andi (Janelle Monáe) all receive an invitation, as well as Benoit Blanc, Birdie’s assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick), and Duke’s girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline).

Before the friends’ first dinner together in the Glass Onion, the name of his ultra-modern mansion topped by a glass dome, Miles reveals he has the genuine Mona Lisa on loan from the Louvre (the Louvre were apparently desperate for finance; the film takes place during the first wave of Covid-19). The unforgiving, omniscient Mona Lisa becomes a prevalent motif of the film.

Rian Johnson and the drawling, deep Southern master detective keeps us in suspense for the first two-thirds of the film, before unravelling the baddie in a masterful and suitably whimsical climax. Once Miles is ‘killed’ in the game and Benoit Blanc solves the riddle in a matter of minutes, a very real threat to life comes to light and each character turns to Mr. Blanc for salvation: the ever-pathetic Miles literally attempts to use him as a human shield.

The use of art in the set is particularly notable; the wall of Miles’ home-from-home is full of visual gags. Likened in the film to Tate Modern, the walls are over-adorned with so-called subversive art that every radicalised tosser with millionaire parents...

...thinks is groundbreaking, as well as some actual high-end, expensive art. Francis Bacon’s The Crucifixion is hung right by a triptych of Ronald MacDonald painted in Bacon’s style. A shirtless portrait of Miles himself hangs front and centre in the living room. The Rothko is hung upside down. Matisse’s La Joie de Vivre mockingly hangs in one of the guest bedrooms.

The outcast Andi mirrors Marta in the first film, both women of colour excluded from the rest of the ensemble. While this is an admirable attempt at political subtext from Johnson, his writing of leading ladies leaves a little to be desired - Andi’s cadence is a little too girlboss-ified for a woman of her apparent intelligence and class.

Some very obvious symbolism holds up the film, but is no doubt charming all the same. The film gets its title from the Beatles song of the same name, a tune written by Lennon to confuse those who read too much into his lyrics, a perfect and fun homage that shapes the plot and theme of the film. Johnson takes the viewer - and the characters - on a twisting, sometimes confusing, flashback-filled journey full of red herrings, before culminating in a simple conclusion, hidden in plain sight (thus, the Glass Onion).

As is its predecessor, Glass Onion is an absolute romp, with a charming, likeable protagonist. Rian Johnson’s style is less Poirot, more Pink Panther, fun for all involved but most notably for Daniel Craig, strutting around the pool in his little sailor-boy outfits. Glass Onion is a fun, camp take on the whodunnit, ultimately thanks to the enigmatic Blanc.