Glass Onion

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is one of the worst movies of the year. If you are going to see it stay at home and watch it on Netflix. Rian Johnson, the director/screenwriter is pissed off that “A Knives Out Mystery” is in the title when he really should be upset over what a bomb his movie is.

A group of longtime best friends Birdie (Kate Hudson), Claire (Kathryn Hahn), Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.), Duke (Dave Bautista), and Andi (Janelle Monáe), all receive an invitation by their billionaire friend Miles (Edward Norton) to come to his private island for a yearly reunion, and partake in a murder mystery game. But, when one of the friends in the group ends up dead, detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has to solve the case before the weekend is over.

This is a murder mystery, but lacks any suspense, intrigue, or intelligence. The most basic murder mystery that a middle schooler could solve. But also become bored by. With the wealth of true crime research available this is not acceptable. With an all-star cast like Daniel Craig and Edward Norton expect so much more. But the script gave the cast nothing to work with. It is painful to watch because none of the characters are developed. The main cast then become caricatures that doesn’t give the audience anything to ground each character’s backgrounds or their relationships to one another. Instead of rooting for anyone it becomes too ridiculous.

Thematically it scratches the surface of what happens when people get seduced by wealth and how far they will go to maintain their status. 

This was a missed opportunity to critique our culture’s obsession with wealth and materialism, and instead took the easy way out. Ultimately felt like we were watching the first draft of the script on the screen.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is available to watch on Netflix.