Melanie Goldberg
Touting a shiny A-lister cast, the long-awaited Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery arrived on Netflix late last year. Evoking overwhelmingly glowing reviews and stacks of awards wins, the film has acquired a list of award nominations to match. Having achieved a 93% fresh rating on the coveted Rotten Tomatoes, the Knives Out sequel looked set to be an all-round success and just as popular as its predecessor.
Both murder mysteries were directed by Rian Johnson, whose previous credits include Looper (2012) and A Tale of Love and Darkness (2015). Johnson also served as a co-producer, alongside Ram Bergman.
Summary
Glass Onion welcomes the return of the revered detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). He has been invited, or so we initially assume, to a private island by billionaire entrepreneur and co-founder of the major tech company Alpha, Miles Bron (Edward Norton), for a weekend of debauchery.
“Then ensues a bizarre series of happenings”
Enter Bron’s guests, a seemingly random cohort of narcissists, amiably referred to as “The Disruptors”, whose livelihoods are financially dependent on the host. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that they were originally led by Andi Bland (Janelle Monáe) before a messy trial between Andi and Miles, during which they sided with the latter, ridding Bland of her shares in Alpha. Then ensues a bizarre series of happenings; an attempted murder mystery, an attempted murder, an actual murder, another murder…
Comparing Knives Out And Glass Onion
Knives Out and Glass Onion are somewhat comparable in style. Both movies purposefully reveal certain details at key moments, through flashbacks and the musings of Blanc.
However, one of the crucial differences is the former’s atmosphere, which offers a more understated, yet still quirky, cohort of suspects. Given the familial connections and sympathetic victim, the first story provided audiences with a more personal stake in discovering the truth. We felt deeply empathetic towards Christopher Plumber’s Harlan Thrombey and Ana de Armas’ Marta Cabrera, his nurse. Whereas, who is truly going to miss Dave Bautista’s ‘meninist’ Duke Cody?
Productions with such impressive casts walk a fine line between exploiting the wealth of talent and an overreliance on their reputations. Ensemble productions such as Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve and far too many superhero flicks have either tanked at the box offices or received poor reviews.
“Glass Onion failed to replicate the success of its predecessor”
To an extent, Glass Onion failed to replicate the success of its predecessor. It is erratic and fickle in both character development and storyline, and its long list of A-lister cameos fail to deliver the remarkable impression intended. The film sorely underutilised it’s more underrated cast members – Jessica Henwick’s Peg and Madelyn Cline’s Whiskey – in lieu of Hollywood hegemonics Kate Hudson, Edward Norton and Daniel Craig.
Misogyny
My major issue with Glass Onion was its penchant for misogyny, which was not subtle. The objectification of Cline was palpable. The Hollywood newcomer was given poor material to work with and, aside from a single conversation throughout the entire film stating her intentions to go into politics, Whiskey serves as an object for Bron and Cody to take advantage of.
Cody weaponises her body to gain favour with Bron, which presents no issue to her character, as her professional ambitions in the public sphere are also allegedly dependent on Cody’s success. Both Norton and Bautista are more than twice Cline’s age, but the only disdain shown for the age disparity is towards Whiskey, who is portrayed as a ‘gold digger’ of sorts.
“One thing I commend Johnson for, though, is Janelle’s casting”
One thing that I commend Johnson for, though, is Janelle’s casting. Monáe has, without a doubt, transitioned with a flourish from her original music career to acting. Without too many spoilers, the Hidden Figures and Moonlight star’s Andi Bland is quite possibly the only character who has a curious unpredictability that does anything but reflect the definition of her surname. Even after audiences believe that we had learnt the true nature of her character, we could not actually comprehend the lengths she would be willing to go to in order to achieve her ultimate goal: justice.
Critical Response
Some reviews do note the mediocrity of the film, particularly compared to its predecessor. Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post attests to the blandness of many of the characters. He notes that the corrupt political background of Kathryn Hahn’s Claire and Leslie Odom Jr.’s “brilliant scientist” Lionel are both disappointingly unexplored throughout.
Slant’s Kenji Fujishima notes “the sequel’s more frenzied tone” and the character’s lack of “dimension beyond their caricatured surfaces”; the possible anti-capitalist undertones of the finale are “less born out of deeply felt personal fury than an interest in pandering to audience members of the same progressive political persuasion.”
“The reviews are golden”
For the most part, the reviews are golden. NME’s Paul Bradshaw describes it as “a bigger, flashier, funnier, twistier, clever-er riff on everything that worked well the first time” and it’s no surprise that Peter Bradshaw’s review awarded the flick 4 out of 5 stars.
The Guardian’s stalwart film critic Bradshaw has a history of skirting over toxic masculinity, often engaging in unnecessarily gendered language with a proclivity to hyper-sexualise female characters. His infantilising take on Greta Gerwig’s Little Women; “sisters are writin’ it for themselves” is truly uninspiring, and his review of Wonder Woman: 1984 in which the titular character is referred to as “demure”, “impossibly gorgeous” and “beauteous” with her “white gown…slashed daringly up the leg,” reeks of internalised misogyny masquerading as ‘girl power.’
“There is so much wasted potential”
Glass Onion is certainly not unentertaining, nor lacking in occasional bouts of surprise and excitement. It’s not a dull watch, I admit, but there is so much wasted potential. Perhaps I was too jaded by the chauvinism of it all to enjoy the movie for what it is, but shouldn’t that be the case for us all?
Featured image courtesy of GR Stocks via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes have been made to this image.
