Rating: 9.4
In Theatres Now (for One Week Only) - On Netflix Dec 23
(But see it in theatres if you can!)
Premise: Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.
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Netflix
Written & Directed by Rian Johnson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Janelle Monáe, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Noah Segan
Runtime: 2hr 20min
Rating: PG
Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
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IMDb Rating: 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
RT Audience Score: 94%
Metacritic Score: 81
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My Review:
Something about me: I LOVE the first “Knives Out”! Hell, I love all of Rian Johnson’s work, from “Looper” to “Brick” and especially “The Last Jedi”. But damn… I was floored by “Glass Onion”. Rian Johnson has one-upped himself yet again, crafting a masterful film that surpassed all my expectations! I could rave about this film for so long. I am so excited about how much I loved it, but this is a movie you don’t want to know too much about before seeing — its best experienced going in blind (and in a theatre)! “Glass Onion” is a coup on cinema narrative for reasons that to explicate would be to spoil. I loved it! This was one of the most fun theatrical experiences I have had in awhile, and the entire rest of the audience seemed to also be having a blast!
Rian Johnson has somehow found a way to once again tell an old fashioned whodunnit (along with a lot of the tropes) and make it feel fresh and original, like something we have never seen before! Somehow he always manages to pull off a perfect twist to the mystery formula, and lots of even greater twists and turns inside the story! I adore the way he is able to deconstruct and transform the whodunnit formula, keeping it both familiar and quite new. This one even had some fantastic non-linear moments; it is quite different in tone and structure from the first! This one is even quite a bit funnier!
The writing is brilliant, Johnson is truly a genius and really knows how to craft a compelling mystery -- this is a puzzle box of a film! The script is filled with ruthless intelligence, and craftily weaves in the strong plot thread of the haves vs the have-nots on top of an excellent and uniquely structured mystery. The dialogue is an actor’s gold; it’s rich and leaves lots of room for them to deliver a killer performance (and trust me, they do). Johnson is a master of misdirection, and once again left me on the edge of my seat, hanging on every word and sequence trying to figure out the answer. Even the way Johnson stages and builds scenes is insanely gifted; there was one in the middle that used editing and sounds so excellently to build tension and bring the scene to a crescendo, once I realized what Johnson was doing I was floored at the subtle but effective ways his filmmaking was getting reactions out of the audience! The way he executes twists and turns in the film is also perfection, his reveals are unparalleled! This is a filmmaker showing absolute mastery of the mystery genre, and his craft as a whole!
The ensemble cast is of course perfect as well! Daniel Craig is once again exceptional as Blanc, and with this turn I may even like him as this character more than his Bond! And while on the topic of Craig, I loved the costumes his character wore; they had so much personality to them! Blanc easily fits in with the rest of the iconic gentlemen sleuths! The rest of the characters that filled out the ensemble were quite fantastic. I loved all of them because of how well-written and memorable they were, each with their own quirks and fleshed out personalities. They are hilariously unique! Edward Norton played such a fun Elon Musk type character, I loved him in this, and Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn and the rest of the cast were stellar too! There were even some amazing cameos that made me smile! But the clear star of the movie was Janelle Monáe; she stole the show and devoured all of her scenes!
Rian Johnson has really found a whole new confident stride with these films, and I hope he never stops making them! I could watch Benoit Blanc solve murders for years! The film is rapturously entertaining, and eminently rewatchable. It's hard to discuss the movie in greater detail without giving away too much, so I'll just say, reminiscent of the title itself, the film has multiple layers, and it was fun watching them get "peeled back". This is a must see in theatres, it’s so much fun with a crowd! Don’t wait for Netflix, go see it now while you can! I was floored with how good this is, it’s one of the best of the year with Rian Johnson proving himself as the master of the modern whodunnit! This movie is perfect; I highly recommend it!
Fun Fact: Rian Johnson has stated that he briefly considered a running joke of having Daniel Craig play Benoit Blanc with a different accent each film without any explanation at all, but decided against it.
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