Far from the autumnal mists of Thromby manor, Benoit Blanc now ventures to the radiant cobalt waters of the Aegean Sea to once again unravel a confounded quandary this time rooted in the curious enigma of peculiar friendships. Thus while its predecessor navigates the underlying facets of dysfunction in family, Glass Onion deftly muses on distorted intricacies of fractured friendships converging in time, and in the process speaks to an array of oddities in contemporary life. 

A simmering assortment of narcissistic egos, the seemingly inescapable pull of wealth, variable relations and no dearth of self interest coalesce in a swirling delightfully bewitching mystery underscoring the fickly layered dynamics of toxic friendships bound by continual collective distress, wrought by rifts, time and ambition and veiled frenetically by facades of amusement. Glass Onion’s illustrations of friendships of the nature is infused with Johnson’s witty satire in speaking to pertinent matters the likes of billionaires, the veneer of genius, and the morality of political correctness. 

Concurrent with the eccentric labyrinth of his mystery Johnson manages also to slightly delve into the power of words bleeding into the sheer appalling toxicity of gaslighting coupled with the vacuum of privilege that makes for a satire that is continually present to infuse into its overarching composition simultaneously keeping up an air of unseriousness in a way that perhaps even makes highlighting its themes futile to veer away from its intent as an engaging mystery to sit back and relax to. A modern day, and well executed Agatha Christie if you will and I for one love that Rian Johnson is turning into that. 

Continuing Knives Out’s proficiency in genre switching, Glass Onion maintains the recurring recontextualisation of the film’s plot albeit in a far less ingenious manner than its predecessor also taking quite long to circle back from. And while Glass Onion doesn’t quite measure up to its original in terms of overall tonality or its endearing nature it remains close in tow coming and going as breezy watch. Kate Hudson’s character was by far the funniest aside from which a great number of the moments of levity don’t quite land as well thus its quite less funnier than Knives Out and in its cheekiest moments. I also feel obligated to say that whoever did the set design for this one deserves an award because wow that was……something. 

Johnson’s follow up to his heartwarming classic while devoid of some of its cornerstones is nonetheless an incredibly engaging foray into constructing contemporary murder mystery retaining its trademark ingenuity in untwining the same. Most of all its fun despite its objective pitfalls
More of these please.

8/10
(Very slay experience watching this. Also Benoit Blanc’s wardrobe for this….fruity😭💅)