Recently, it seems like the public has a new obsession with crime-related media. From Agatha Christie remakes such as “Death on the Nile” to new films such as “Enola Holmes,” mysteries are popping up everywhere, especially on Netflix. Following this trend, Netflix released a new murder mystery movie, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” While the film was released to theaters on Nov. 23 for a week, it didn’t join the streaming platform until a month later on Dec. 23.

The movie begins as four mysterious wooden boxes are delivered to various locations. Each box is given to one of tech billionaire Miles Bron’s (Edward Norton) friends. After governor Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), model Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) and twitch streamer Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) open the boxes it reveals a handwritten invitation to Bron’s private island for a murder mystery game. The camera then suddenly switches to a fifth box which is opened by the disgraced former partner of Bron, Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe). She destroys the box, making the audience wonder why it was delivered to her at all. The group arrives in Greece to travel to the private island when they are greeted by a new face. While no one new has joined one of the weekend getaways before, Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) shows up saying that he has been invited, but no one knows by who. Once the party begins and the murder mystery starts, everything goes wrong when someone actually dies.

This movie was jam packed with talented and famous actors. Almost every actor in the movie was a big name even down to Bron’s assistant, who was played by Ethan Hawke. However, it seemed like the producers decided there didn’t need to be a coherent plot because of how talented the actors were. The movie seemed all over the place, especially the ending, which was underdeveloped and predictable.

Even though the plot didn’t flow, the timeline did. In order to add interest to the movie, they included a time jump. Sometimes changing the timeline in a show can be a little tricky and leave viewers confused. Fortunately though, this one did not. Since the directors chose to follow the same events after the time jump happened, just from a different point of view, it was easy to follow. This felt like a nod to the ending of “Clue” when they “rewinded” to showcase different endings.

Another aspect that was unique to this film was that they chose to have it set in May of 2020. COVID-19 restrictions were used to showcase all the different characters’ personalities. Debella was the perfect example of a work from home mom when she showed up in half pajamas half business to her work meeting and Jay showcased the oblivious influencer when she was shown throwing a party because they were all in her “pod.” An additional aspect of COVID-19 that was used was masks. When everyone arrives in Greece, each person takes the idea of wearing a mask differently. Both Blanc and Toussaint wear masks that fit their faces and are recommended by the CDC. However Debella’s is falling off her face, Jay has a mesh glitter one (much like the one musician Lana Del Rey wore in real life) and Cody comes in on his motorcycle, guns-a-blazing, without a mask. This simple addition made the movie just feel that much more authentic as viewers could see their personality through the masks.

While this movie didn’t feel the same as “Knives Out”, which told the story of an old money family compared to the flashy new money characters of Glass Onion, they both earned the same ratings with a 7.2/10 on Imdb and a 92% on RottenTomatoes.

Although “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” didn’t quite meet my expectations, fans of Blanc can be on the lookout for a third movie in this series as Netflix has claimed the rights to a third movie in this wonderful franchise.

Contact Adeline Gruen at [email protected]