How are you supposed to follow up on one of the more deliriously fun films of the last few years? For Rian Johnson, whose initial foray into the whodunit genre was the delicious "Knives Out," the problem isn't merely to come up with a sequel that matches the original's playful intrigue and high energy, but to do it in a way that conjures up a new murder mystery that will keep everyone guessing, precisely when everyone is waiting for it and ready to pounce the second Johnson shows his hand (it is a very similar conundrum to what befell M. Night Shyamalan, when his twist-ending shtick got repeatedly exposed).
Happily, I can report those waiting to crash Johnson's party shouldn't bother. What the ingenious writer/director has come up with "Glass Onion" is another intricate puzzle within a puzzle -- fans of the original remember the way in which the first film seemed to have been solved not quite halfway through, before fully reinventing itself by the end -- in which our understanding of the set of circumstances whiplashes considerably with a single devilish plot twist. He lulls you into a sense of complacency in the film's more meandering (though enjoyable) first act, only to throw everything you thought you understood into upheaval for the madcap finale, which closes all doors and seals all exits upon its conclusion.
Let's quickly delve into the circumstances: The mega-rich tech tycoon Miles Bron (Edward Norton) has summoned his group of old friends, known among themselves as the "disruptors," to his spectacular Greek-isle mansion, for their annual gathering of revelry and debauchery, and to stage an elaborate murder mystery over the weekend.
Included on the guest list is Birdie (Kate Hudson), a ditzy formal model now turned entrepreneur, along with her assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick); Duke (Dave Bautista), a "men's rights" advocate with a robust YouTube channel, along with his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline); Claire (Kathryn Hahn), running for governor in Connecticut on an environmentalist platform; Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.), one of Bron's lead scientists for his ubiquitous company, Alpha; and, most shockingly, Andi (Janelle Monae), Bron's former business partner at Alpha, who was recently ousted from the company she co-founded, largely on the strength of everyone else's betrayal.
For reasons somewhat unclear, even to Bron, the "world's greatest detective" Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), has also been summoned for the weekend, a turn that proves fortuitous when actual bodies start to pile up and Blanc is suddenly thrust into a real investigation, one in which nothing is quite what it seems. Johnson, whose fiendishly clever plotting powers these films with rapturous joy, has created another exultant riddle-ride, in which the cast seems to be having exactly as much fun as the rest of us.
We go to movies for different reasons, of course, sometimes a stark drama can show us truths that speak to our souls; a comedy can make everything feel somehow more endurable; a romance can leave us breathless with hope, and so forth. What Johnson has so cannily crafted now, is the sensory deliciousness of watching an expertly hewed plot meticulously reveal itself in strokes broad and slight. The joyousness of watching how all the details -- even throwaway jokes -- almost magically coalesce into an appreciably coherent whole. It's like a magic trick performed by a master deceptionist, with equal parts careful planning, and deft sleight of hand
While it might not have quite the richly satisfying subtext of the original, that sense of nearly perfect coherency, there is still a tremendous amount of fun to be had, as long as you're open to Johnson's blend of precision misdirections, pop-culture jibes, and screwball plot-twistings.