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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – BFI London Film Festival 2022

Reviewer: Maryam Philpott

Writer and Director: Rian Johnson

Knives Out took the murder mystery format by storm when it screened at the BFI London Film Festival in 2019. Three years later writer-director Rian Johnson is back to close the 2022 Festival with his brilliant follow-up Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery that once again plays with the conventions of the genre while adding a Bond film lux in its visual appeal. Only this time, Johnson has the backing of Netflix and Knives Out is now a franchise.

Tech billionaire and self-styled ‘disrupter’ Miles Bron invites a group of close friends to his island paradise home to solve his murder. Gathering together a fashion industry entrepreneur, a scientist, a politician and gym-body influencer, Bron has a hold on all of them. This group has its secrets and a reason to resent their host. Their perfect party is soured when Bron’s former collaborator Cassandra and master detective Benoit Blanc appear on the guest list as well.

Much is expected from this movie after its predecessor’s success, but Johnson has penned another hit, and even its slightly grander scale never steals focus from the enjoyable mystery at its heart. The onion metaphor reaches deep into the film with many layers to unpeel before we get to its centre and with spoiler alerts stamped all over the plot, suffice to say there are twists, leaps, secrets and surprises aplenty, all of which make for a satisfying cinematic experience.

Having accomplished a fresh perspective on the country house mystery, Johnson turns his attention to a group of friends on an island for the weekend. It’s not quite And Then There Were None but in Johnson’s hands, you’re never quite sure which reference will pop up. Instead, Andrew Bennett’s art design, Jenny Eagan’s costumes and Steve Yedlin’s cinematography create wealth and largess akin to Susanne Bier’s work on The Night Manager. Fans will be pleased to note the murder mystery characteristics nonetheless – a set of troubled suspects, acres of motive, flashback sequences that disrupts the denouement and a whole heap of misdirection focused around the central baddie – his collar-less jackets denoting his villainous nature. Johnson works all of these elements hard, barely letting the tension falter for well over two hours of movie time.

And there is tons of humour in Glass Onion, treading a line by never quite sending itself up but offering the occasional self-aware wink at the audience, not least in Daniel Craig’s ridiculous but loveably smart detective. There is no way to hoodwink Benoit Blanc and Craig delivers another great performance as the Southern-accented lawman who plays on his Miss Marple innocence before skewering everyone with his Poirot-like insight.

Glass Onion’s suspects including Kate Hudson’s ex-model with a tendency to put her foot in it, Kathryn Hahn’s disorientated mum-turned-politico, Janelle Monáe’s enigmatic ex-business partner and Leslie Odom Jr’s beleaguered scientist play their excesses well, but Edward Norton is the standout as the slimy but sinister Miles revelling in his smug badness.

Arguably, the post-reveal conclusion is hugely overblown and so silly you’ll need to pay close attention to understand how it actually resolves anything without stomping all over several motives and character futures, but with Glass Onion the Knives Out franchise is officially off and running, and the BFI London Film Festival 2022 comes to a worthy conclusion.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery screened at the BFI London Film Festival 2022.

The Reviews Hub Score:

A satisfying hit

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The Reviews Hub Film Team is under the editorship of Maryam Philpott.

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