Glass Onion

I really enjoyed Knives Out and was looking forward to the sequel with much anticipation ever since it was announced. I was, however, disappointed.

With Glass Onion, director and writer Rian Johnson shows once again that he can carefully craft an intriguing story with brilliant direction. But with a bigger budget comes many challenges and unfortunately the movie fails when it is trying too be too extravagant and a spectacle for the viewers.

The core story is very interesting and after a dull start, the middle of the film really hits it's stride with Johnson moving his playing pieces about with ease and wonderment. That was when i most enjoyed the movie.

But the ending was ultimately disappointing. Childish humour and some sequences that were clearly for spectacle which i can only describe as 'throwing a tantrum' ruined this movie for me.

I had some fun with this but was left feeling robbed as there was definitely a compelling enough story here for this to be another great movie. I do feel the more intimate character/story driven moments in this film are where it shines and not in the big budget set pieces.

Watch this if you enjoy the genre, but please lower your expectations before doing so!

I really wanted to like this, but the direction was lacklustre. When you have a very complicated plot, then editing, pacing and direction are critical. This is not nearly as much fun as the first Knives Out, and the dialogue is strained. The players try very hard, but it's all a jumble of dialogue and information with no time to enjoy the puzzle. It might be better second time around, so I will watch on tv in a couple of months.

In particular, Daniel Craig's southern gentleman detective is far too noisy, bumbling, and silly. Most of the other characters are almost clichés. The whole movie looks rushed into production, a desperate attempt to make up for losses during COVID.

Too bad. Perhaps a "directors cut" might be better.

The casting and performances by all were outstanding, especially Bautista and Norton, and I really liked the setting in Greece, but I feel the ending ruined what could've been a better sequel. There certainly was some creative ideas in the narrative, and even though the start was slow and tedious, it did get better when Benoit Blanc started to unravel the mystery. However, the unravelling was too as-a-matter-of-factly and too convenient in its set-up. And normally I'd be fine with that, because the few twists were a nice touch, but then right after the mystery was solved, the ridiculous antics just became too unbelievable and quite frankly, unnecessary. Still, and enjoyable one-time watch, especially if you enjoyed the first one.

A lot of great actors, and the film is well-shot, but ultimately the whole affair is just too cartoonish to enjoy on anything but a superficial level. Every character (with the possible exception of Janelle Monae's) is so broadly drawn and overacted that you can't invest in them or care what happens to them. Particularly Daniel Craig's lead. He felt like an eccentric, but brilliant, detective in Knives Out, but here he just comes off as silly. His complete inaction toward the end seems to exist only to set up the ridiculous, over-the-top ending. Also, Kathryn Hahn and Leslie Odom. Jr. Are so wasted that I don't know why they even signed on for this. Glass Onion was an okay distraction for a Netflix movie, but I would have been annoyed if I'd paid to see this in a theater.

What happened?!

I am so bitterly confused!

I was looking forward to this film so much after Knives Out instantly becoming one of my all time favourites.

Did I overhype it? Were my expectations too high? Did I watch the same film as the critics?

By all means, I'm not saying this is a bad film but compared to the original, it misses rather hard. What an absolute let down.

I have no complaints about the cast, the score, the cinematography, the direction etc. It's the writing. Did Rian Johnson just forget what sort of film he was writing or something? It certainly showed a lot of promise in the first act, it definitely had me intruiged. The middle act had it's moments of twists and revelations I suppose. But the last act - what happened? What a mess. There was no pay off. It was such an unsatisfying conclusion. Honestly, it felt like they may as well have just said; "It was all a dream". It was so much off the mark which really hurts.

I'm glad to see that I guess a lot of people enjoyed it and maybe the next installment will be better. One can only hope.