Should You Watch “Glass Onion”?

A Knives Out Murder Mystery

Photo+from+IMDb.com

Fatima Qureshi, Opinions Editor

The knives were out again and this time the knife hit the target. With a new whodunit sequel that focuses on a group of people from all walks of life on a private Greek island. Succeeding after the first Knives Out mystery film, The Glass Onion must over deliver to awaiting fans; meaning it has to surprise and intrigue the masses. Luckily, the film’s second stab with Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) as the detective hit the mark as the film attained huge success in the box office and is now streaming on Netflix.   

To give a brief premise of the plot: the movie is set at a lavish resort on an island where Blanc, the detective, finds himself to be the unwanted guest, and stranger, at a friends reunion- the host being tech mogul Miles Bron (Edward Norton.) The band of “disruptors” (as they call themselves) are gathered to solve Bron’s murder mystery game for the weekend. All is fun and games as the band relaxes and rewinds until someone turns up dead. As the film progresses, the audience is aware of each character’s ulterior motives and lies which makes them the perfect gallery of suspects.

Something lacking in the first film is the ravishing and luxurious setting. The beauty of the scenery seems to distract you from the glaring truth. The audience, who believes they can outwit the writers, are punched in the face with the film being built from puzzles within puzzles leaving them to miss the obvious. On the surface, the appealing resort, opulent setting, and glamour, conceals the ugly truth.  

What The Glass Onion does really well is that it allows us to really understand each character’s motivations and sometimes reveals their repellent nature. The most disliked of them all is Miles Bron, the host of the weekend getaway, seems like a genius but doesn’t do much except use his money to silence others and use his fax machine. Bron also seems to be holding something over each person’s head that provides a simmering tension amongst the others at the resort. It definitely seems that Miles Bron unknowingly brought his worst enemies under the same roof with the inkling of murder. This complex dynamic is what lifts the film. 

The mysterious onion is peeled away revealing tid bits of truth as the film progresses; this fascinating story diverges from the audience’s expectations-in a good way. Recently, The Glass Onion was nominated for 6 Critics’ Choice Awards and was also named one of the Top Ten Films of 2022 by the National Board of Review.