Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Knives Out was a spectacular murder mystery that was flipped on its head. As well a being a cultural satire about the how people really see each other despite outward facades of kindness and compassion. The Glass Onion is a murder mystery once again flipped on its head but instead of a cultural satire on family vs servants, rich vs poor, privilege vs hard working, we have a satire on friendships.
Are you really friends because you enjoy the company of the people around you or are you using those people for your future gain? Glass Onion is about 6 friends invited to an island for a weekend murder mystery dinner. Some elaborate game that Edward Norton’s character, Miles, has put together for his friends to reconnect during the pandemic. Instead it turns into an evening of murder and revenge.
Ryan Johnson, the director was very meticulous in how everything is presented and shot to tell you how Miles thinks of his friends. One scene that depicts this very cleverly is when he is handing out everyone’s drinks before dinner. To his scientist friend, Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.) gets an angular glass like a mix between a martini class and a scientific beaker, the ditzey model, Birdy, (Kate Hudson) gets a tropical hurricane glass because everyday for her is like a vacation. The aspiring senator, Clair (Kathryn Hahn) gets the delicate wine glass. Dave Bautista who is suppose to be an Male rights influencer named Duke gets a basic whisky glass. Birdies assistant who doesn’t matter to the story and who could have been cut completely gets a red solo cup. And the only person that Miles believes is his equal and the only person that Miles longs to really reconnect with is Andy who’s glass is shaped exactly like his own. A whisky glass with an angular bottom, seems simple but has some complexity to it.
The story laid out is that Miles was the catalyst that changed everyone’s life. The original group of 5 friends were in their 30s and had burned out. Enter Miles and he starts manipulating things to bring success to their lives but they all own him for their success except for one of them. The true manipulator that brought everyone to where they are today. The original 5 friends were real friends that liked each other and knew each other for a long time. Cassandra, or Andy as she is called throughout the movie is the real person that started the game of using people. As stated no one really like Miles when they first met him, he was charismatic but seemed all talk until things started happening. Cassandra was the one that brough Miles into the group, not because she really like him but because she needed him. Miles wanted real friends a group of his own, but being the idoit that he is thought the way to get real friendship was to buy it, and so he bought this new group of friends with his only real friend being Cassandra, the only one that wasn’t a yes man and would push back on him if need be. We learn what each of them got from Miles and that Miles got his clique of friends, what did Cassandra get? Her transaction was she needed him to start her company that he ultimately steals from her. Her one mistake was thinking that Miles was a real friend not a bought one. I believe that the point of this movie. Choose real friends and don’t use them for your own gain it won’t end well when those gains are used to turn people against you.
The other main difference between this and Knives out is that in the end of Knives out justice is served. Alma gets the inheritance, the real killer amongst the family is found, and everyone else gets their just deserts. In the end of the Glass Onion, I don’t feel like justice is served even though the police are coming, there is no evidence to put anyone in jail, but revenge is served so a different feeling of justice is the out come. No one is going to go to jail even with testimony from the friends as they are all unreliable witnesses, but one career is ruined, one persons ambitions are destroyed and one wish to be mentioned in the same breath as the Mona Lisa is granted. But most important is that our main character gets the closure she needed. So another great murder mystery movie but you are left with a completely different feeling at the end. That’s genius story telling.
The one major criticism I have for this film is the character Peg. She is Birdie’s assistant who serves no purpose but to be a cautionary tale to the young and be a reason for exposition to be said. Hence the reason she is given a red solo cup and disappears for a good chunk of the movie. Her cautionary tale is that you should ride the coat tales of another, as being the assistant of model that has been known to say and do unacceptable things like black face Halloween costumes and tweet out racial slurs. Peg has spent her whole career being the PR manager, and assistant to Birdie that she has no other experience else where, but also has no backbone to stepdown and leave Birdie on her own, so her fate is tied to that of a ditzy model who didn’t know that saying someone was “jewy” was slur against Jewish people.
The other major thing people are talking about is how Miles is suppose to be a satire on Elon Musk. I can totally see that but I wouldn’t say it’s not just Elon Musk or any other millionaire or billionaire. His character is that of anyone who is in a powerful position outside their skill set. Think of just about every video game executive that has a business degree and not a computer science or graphic degree. These are people that think they know what is great for the customer but are not connected to the reality of the business. They want profits over content. Think of every dumb comment that has been made by people adapting content to different genres. The show runner of HBO’s Last of Us saying that “video games deaths are just pixels dying on a screen but a live action performance has more feeling to it.” Think of the writers for the Witcher TV show saying they don’t like to source material and don’t want to use it.
Miles is a character that has no imagination, and no other skills than being a charismatic networker who has money. With enough money you can will anything into existence and be given the credit for it since you paid for it. Miles fortunes are made off of others as an investor. Much like most billionaires today including Elon Musk. This also includes people that are not billionaires or millionaires. I see this behavior in just about every cooperate high level managers that can’t be asked to jump in and get their hands dirty because they don’t know how to do the work they manage. I have seen this happen with people running policy teams to testing teams. Its like having a general in the military that has never shot a gun before so if he ever needs to pick up a weapon he would be useless. I point this out so that people don’t just think this behavior is only found in the ultra rich like Elon Musk but will notice this behavior amongst their co-workers in everyday life. You don’t need to be ultra rich to be an idiot.
Overall the Glass Onion is a great movie and I suggest you watch it, multiple times. Just like Knives out you will find something new about it each time. Maybe it will make you look at your relationships and reconsider which ones are real friendships and which are just for gain.
Let us know what you thought of the movie in the comments below.