Private detective Benoit Blanc navigates a world shadowed by a global pandemic as he sketches a path through isolation. His only relief is a streaming performance with friends on a digital platform, which once promised more than it delivered. His longing turns into a gnawing restlessness, and days slip by in a dim bathroom where time seems suspended. Then a peculiar box appears, containing an invitation to Miles Bron’s private island retreat. The invitation arrives just as the sense of confinement thickens around the group. Miles Bron’s close circle includes Connecticut Governor Claire Debella, scientist and right-hand man Lionel Toussaint, fashion icon Birdie Jay, a tech-savvy vlogger Duke Cody, a confidant named whiskey, and Miles’s former partner Cassandra Brand. Each person receives the summons, and they converge in Greece for what is billed as a “murder mystery party.”
SS Van Dyne’s “20 Rules for Writing Detective Stories” once urged writers to avoid predictable resolutions and clichés. Although the list dates back nearly a century, it remains influential. Yet director Rian Johnson bends those precepts, claiming full authority to improvise beyond previous conventions while crafting a modern mystery that speaks in a contemporary voice.
Knives Out, the project that launched Ryan Johnson’s Khudanit brand, subverted every cliché while still functioning as a compelling detective story. The sequel, The Glass Onion, follows suit, introducing a new identity to the Knives Out Mystery series and expanding the playbook of misleading expectations. The film’s opening sets the tone with a precise setup, then shifts into a second half defined by a string of startling revelations that unfold on the infamous island. What often seems obvious turns out to be only a fragment of the whole, and the narrative rewards viewers who stay alert to misdirection and hidden motives. The result is a film that refuses to settle into a single, tidy genre, instead juggling humor, satire, and a sharp critique of spectacle and wealth.
What stands out is the way The Glass Onion reframes the central figure of Blanc. The character is neither merely an efficient problem-solver nor a flawless genius; he sits somewhere between mastery and fallibility, embodying a lived-in realism. The story uses a familiar board-game metaphor, with clues and motives layered like pieces on a board, inviting audiences to piece together the puzzle as if playing a round of Cluedo. The film playfully critiques the notion that brilliance guarantees flawless judgment, offering a wry commentary on wealth, power, and public perception. In a contemporary sense, the narrative also touches on how social media figures, business empires, and celebrity culture intersect in the modern information landscape, inviting viewers to question what they trust and why.