Let me start off by saying this movie is only in theaters for one week and then we’ll be released on Netflix on December 23rd. So my quick statement would be, if you really want to see it, wait for Netflix. Not worth giving them your money. Next, this review is all my personal opinion and I know others will not feel the same as me.
Let’s start off with the positives. Great ensemble cast again. Fine acting they did a good job. Beautiful scenery and a heck of a location. Must be nice to spend part of your lockdown on lush locations on someone else’s dime. What is wrong with this movie had nothing to do with any of that.
The World's Most Indispensable Movie App
The RunPee app tells you the best times to run & pee during a movie so you don't miss the best scenes.
Read more about the RunPee app.
If you are a fan of Rian Johnson “subverting your expectations” then this is your kind of movie. Because he will knowingly NOT give you what you want. He will intentionally do everything he can to go against it. Remember that Rian Johnson is the writer, director and producer of this movie. So I can and will hold him mostly to blame.
You come to a murder mystery movie with certain expectations. Let alone, you see the original Knives Out movie and that sets up its own expectations. But Rian can’t help himself, he makes you spend 2 plus hours slowly giving the audience little bits of the story at a time. Let alone with redundant storytelling (he must think the audience is dumb), reshowing parts that we’ve already pieced together before he even got there. So like Blanc, in this movie, who figures everything out in a blink of an eye and is a little anticlimactic. We the audience is sitting there waiting for Rian to slowly pull back the layers of the story we already know. So he can try to show how clever he is (cough, cough). No thank you.
For my rating, I will give some points for the cast and their acting. But I have to be harsh on the rest of the movie. I also normally try to find something to enjoy about bad movies so I can enjoy it more. For this one the biggest part I could enjoy is knowing Rain likes to subvert the expectations of the audience, so that also was part of my expectations. By not giving the audience a creative murder mystery, he then did meet my expectation of subverting. But is that really a positive to the movie? I think not. Rian Johnson now finds himself in a spot like M. Night Shyamalan has had, and his movies having a twist. If you’re expecting it, it doesn’t have the same effect you are hoping for.
I can see that other reviewers are enjoying Glass Onion. I am happy for them. If you did/do enjoy it, also happy for you. Please just take a moment and ask yourself. Did you spend 2 hours weaving through a piecemeal drama story? Sure. But what was the really creative murder mystery? That was just not there. Like Blanc said, “it’s just stupid”. I think Rain is deep down like an internet troll. He either thinks people are stupid and he is so superior to them. Or he just enjoys watching the drama he creates. All while he is thinking he is so clever. When really he’s being really lazy and just expecting people to accept what he gives them. Sitting back and counting his money while laughing at those that are now upset because he didn’t give them what they wanted. People come to movies to be entertained, not to be part of his internet troll drama. Don’t give Rian Johnson more of your money for crap products. In my personal opinion.
Tell a friend to see it?
Nope
Would I rewatch it?
Nope
Would I want to own a copy?
Nope
Must-see in theaters?
Nope. Wait for Netflix Dec 23 if you want to see it.
Do you need to see the original show to enjoy this one?
I want to say yes, but that will set up expectations that Rian Johnson willingly goes against.
Grade: D
About The Peetimes: I found 3 Peetimes. I recommend the 2nd one.
There are no extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
| Rated: | (PG-13) Strong Language | Drug Content | Some Violence | Sexual Material |
| Genres: | Comedy, Crime, Drama |
| Starring: | Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson |
| Director: | Rian Johnson |
| Writer(s): | Rian Johnson |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | United States |
Plot
Famed Southern detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece for his latest case.
Don’t miss your favorite movie moments because you have to pee or need a snack. Use the RunPee app (Androidor iPhone) when you go to the movies. We have Peetimes for all wide release films every week, including Godzilla: Minus One, Napoleon, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and coming soon Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and many others. We have literally thousands of Peetimes—from classic movies through today's blockbusters. You can also keep up with movie news and reviews on our blog, or by following us on Twitter @RunPee. If there's a new film out there, we've got your bladder covered.
Run Peep in training. A long-time movie lover that enjoys a wide variety of films. Usually easy-going about films and gives them a lot of slack. If you can’t enjoy them for what they present to the audience, try to enjoy them by laughing at their bad effort. Let’s go enjoy the movies.
Roger
I have not seen this movie yet but for the reviewer to give it D is beyond belief. I see the reviewer is in training and I would strongly suggest keeping those training wheels on for several more years. He did not say what he thought of Knives Out but if he had indicated that movie was a C or less, I would not have bothered to read his recent review.
Anonymous
Agree with Roger. This reviewer obviously has some anger issues. The real waste of time was reading his review
Terri
Hi, Steve!
First, I need to ask: did you grade this a D from the beginning? I swore I saw you’d given it a C when I read your review the other day. It really doesn’t matter much but I’ll worry if I’m starting to see things! 😀 Hahaha!
Since Glass Onion is out for one week only (insert eye roll here), it was hard to find a theatre that still had decent seats this entire Thanksgiving weekend — but we did AND enjoyed! It helped going in with lower expectations (your review wasn’t the only negative one I read, but it was the first) so I knew better than to set the caliber at a Knives Out level.
Like you said, the cast was great (I liked more of the KO women better, tho). Daniel Craig still carries off Benoit Blanc with ease, it was fun to see Edward Norton again, Janelle Monáe was grand, and give me more Jackie Hoffman please!! (I so wish she was on the back of Dave Bautista’s motorcycle when pulling up to the dock in Greece!)
There was still the twists, turns, and absurd humor. I could have done more fun swears. And, as you noted in your review, we finally get what we came for! I’ve mentioned different times, and in discussion with Dan on here, I get antsy when movies are more than 2 hours long, and this one definitely could’ve been edited to be more in line with that. When Benoit is on the balcony with the sister, I fought it off but my sister succumbed to the dreaded “LONG BLINK” for a good 12-15 minutes. Necessary info that could’ve been revealed in a more energetic, visual way.
My grade is more in lines of a B…almost B+
Will look forward to watching it again on Netflix.
LinFromNJ
Agree with the other commenters. Enjoyed the movie and the theater was pretty full. Just dumb fun and entertaining. Was disappointed the detective figured it all out early, but that didn’t spoil it for me. Looking forward to the third movie in the series.