Private detective Benoit Blanc amid the coronavirus pandemic (Daniel Craig) From where he plays “Between Us” with his friends on the network (not very successful apparently) he dies of yearning within four walls and splashes into the bathroom for days. Forced loafing is interrupted by a mysterious box containing an invitation to billionaire Miles Bron’s personal island. (Edward Norton). Close friends of the tech tycoon do the same: Connecticut Governor Claire Debella (Katherine Hahn), scientist and Miles’ right-hand man, Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), supermodel and fashion designer Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson)vlogger and men’s rights activist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista)girlfriend whiskey (Madeline Kline) and Miles’ former partner Cassandra Brand (Janelle Monae). They all gather in Greece for a “murder mystery party”.
SS Van Dyne’s “20 rules for writing detective stories” concludes that “The writer of detective stories should avoid stereotypical solutions and ideas of any kind.” Less than 100 years after its release, the list is pretty outdated, but director Rian Johnson still uses this last rule (although he gives himself full authority to break all previous rules).
Knives Out, who founded Ryan Johnson’s Khudanit brand three years ago, mocked, violated and deceived the genre in every possible way, but at the same time worked brilliantly as a detective in his own right. The sequel, The Glass Onion, does the same thing, but meanwhile establishes a new brand (Knives Out Mystery) and adds a new layer to those broken expectations from the series itself. The incredibly fine tape snores the audience: if the first episode, true to the classic detective stories, has already shown the corpse in the opening scene and made it clear what the characters will do until the last credits, then the second half of the movie in general is keeping a secret that actually takes place on the unfortunate island. And once it’s clear, it turns into a series of crazy twists – so don’t flatter yourself ahead of time.
Especially smart: Knives Out was a disappointing movie, but The Glass Onion turned out to be a movie about deceptive expectations. Previously, Benoit Blanc himself was a mystery – either an impenetrable but successful dumbass or a genius of transcendent dimensions. Now everything has turned out to be at the same time, and out of this inconsistency a kind of comfortable everyday reality of life is formed: yes, here is a man with a French name, the habits of an English gentleman and who can reveal the most complex cases, but in the board game “Cluedo” ( a severe southern accent that is utterly helpless (in which murders are suggested to be investigated). Because the aphorism “a talented person is talented in everything” is of course complete nonsense: for example, you can be incredibly good at making money, but remain a complete idiot in everything else. You don’t have to look far for an example (here The Glass Onion is, of course, a very up-to-date movie) – just open Elon Musk’s Twitter page.