In 2019, indie darling Rian Johnson released his film Knives Out to instant critical acclaim. Many called it a return to form for the murder mystery genre and that was due in part to the killer script by Johnson himself as well as the cast consisting of modern day icons such as Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, and Katherine Langford. Then, a sequel was announced as a Netflix original, and audiences were weary, but still excited to see what the next mystery would withhold. In retrospect, those who were worried about the future of the franchise were just jumping the gun as Johnson and co. come out swinging with biting political commentary, an intriguing mystery, beautiful cinematography, and a cast composed of icons giving iconic performances in the ever energetic Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. 

I’m gonna be honest here, I didn’t love Knives Out. There were particular elements that I enjoyed, but I found it to be an overly long experience with characters who are too similar to one another (outside of Detective Benoit Blanc played by Daniel Craig, who is the only returning element in this second film). Although, even from the trailers for Glass Onion I could tell there was going to be something different about this one. First and foremost, the setting wasn’t as boring as the first. Instead of a manor in Boston the film takes place on an island two hours off the coast of Greece. As well, the characters seemed much more interesting than the family of the first. This time around the characters are friends instead of family, and from the trailers I could tell they were a balance of caricatures and characters. No one is being subtle here as many members of the first film’s cast attempted to be  no no no, people are carrying guns around in speedos, wearing lavish orange bikinis with capes, starting indoor fires, and pointing spear guns stylishly at the camera. To say that the film was crackling with energy would be an understatement. 

Although, Glass Onion doesn’t throw the baby out with the bath water as yes, the film is much bigger in scale than the first, but the poignant commentary/intelligent storytelling from the first film is still at the root of the film. It’s twist and turn upon twist and turn that gives audiences an interesting mystery as well as a good laugh once everything is properly put together. Because of these two worlds of high level production and intelligent writing I believe Glass Onion to be a fantastic film as well as a fantastic sequel. It understands what everyone liked about the first film, fixes elements that others didn’t like so much, and then expands further with what’s left. In Hollywood, it’s a common occurrence to hear of the disease “sequelitis” as a lot of the times a sequel attempts to recreate the success of a preceding film and fails horribly although with Glass Onion the creatives behind it understood exactly what to do and examined their art to create one of the best films of last year. You can stream Glass Onion on Netflix.