Hello, hello!
I loved Knives Out, so much in fact that I went to see it at the cinema twice. I was both excited for Benoit Blanc to make a return as well as slightly concerned that I just would not live up to my expectations. So, let’s take a closer look!
The Plot (as found on Rotten Tomatoes):
Benoit Blanc returns to peel back the layers in a new Rian Johnson whodunit. This fresh adventure finds the intrepid detective at a lavish private estate on a Greek island, but how and why he comes to be there is only the first of many puzzles. Blanc soon meets a distinctly disparate group of friends gathering at the invitation of billionaire Miles Bron for their yearly reunion. Among those on the guest list are Miles’ former business partner Andi Brand, current Connecticut governor Claire Debella, cutting-edge scientist Lionel Toussaint, fashion designer and former model Birdie Jay and her conscientious assistant Peg, and influencer Duke Cody and his sidekick girlfriend Whiskey. As in all the best murder mysteries, each character harbors their own secrets, lies and motivations. When someone turns up dead, everyone is a suspect.
The Rating:
Damn this was a fun movie! Was it as good as Knives Out? No, not quite. But I still had such a good time watching it.
Obviously, this movie tremendously benefits from the amazing, star-studded cast. Almost every single role features a big name in this industry. Well, but even the best actors and actresses would have a hard time carrying this movie if the plot wasn’t it.
The story was filled with many interesting twists and turns, a good many that you definitely did not see coming. Not only is the plot written really cleverly, I also enjoyed that the movie is poking fun at the characters in it. What I will say, however, is that there are a lot of elements to the story that are very much of our time right now. For example, the film starts off during COVID, they reference testing, masks, and isolating, etc. While it is cool to see current events incorporated into a movie – especially one that most likely struggled during production because of COVID – I wonder how these aspects of the film will be received in the future. I was thinking the same thing when they discussed how one of the characters is a streamer on Twitch. Knives Out felt more universal and timeless whereas Glass Onion has elements that people probably won’t get in 20 years’ time. The movie is very much *now* and that is fun. As I mentioned it pokes fun at the characters and the characters are pretty much all reflections of people we have at the moment: the “self-made” pretentious annoying millionaire, the idiot celebrity influencer, the streamer dude with weird ass statements regarding women, etc. I’m pretty sure you all can think of at least one real person when you read those descriptions. So, right now this is fun, but in the future people might not get it – or at least not to the degree we do now. I mean, that totally makes sense, who knows if, for example, Twitch will even still exist then. So, obviously, nobody would know what they are talking about in this movie. But I guess only time will tell how this film will age. This is not really a criticism as I enjoyed the movie as it is, but rather something I’m curious about.
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