A group of friends is secluded on an island for a peaceful weekend vacation, until one of them is murdered, and they have to find the murderer themselves. “The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (2022) is a great fast-paced murder mystery which captivates the audience from the get-go. Throughout the movie, detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) reveals each character’s secrets and a motive to commit the crime.   

Tech giant and billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invites his friends Clarie Debella (Katherine Hahn), the governor of Connecticut who is running for senate, Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr), the head scientist of Bron’s company, Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), a fashion designer who was formerly a supermodel, Duke Cody (Dave Bautista), a Twitch and Youtube streamer, Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), Cody’s girlfriend and assistant and Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), his ex-business partner, on an annual group vacation.  Another person shows up to the trip, famous detective Benoit Blanc, who was mysteriously invited. 

They are all on Bron’s private island in Greece, the main attraction being a giant onion-shaped structure made entirely of glass. This symbolizes more than just the bar the group met at, but the film and the plot as a whole. They are supposed to solve a murder mystery Bron has set up while they are on the island, but instead they have to solve a real one when a member of their group suddenly dies. 

This movie is your classic murder mystery with the detective walking the group through how the murder was committed with various flashback scenes and a big plot twist you won’t see coming. Part of the fun in this movie is watching the group interact and all the drama that erupts between them. Unlike in “Knives Out”(2019), the first movie in this series, this group is completely isolated from the rest of the world; the police can’t get to them until the morning and they are alone in Bron’s elaborate compound, which takes up most of his tropical island. This makes for a faster paced movie, because they solve the murder in one night. 

This movie is technically a sequel to the original “Knives Out,” but the movies have no correlation besides the presence of Detective Blanc. “The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is a great standalone movie with good characters and an interesting plot line. The characters are all multi-dimensional and have their own little character arcs throughout the movie. 

“The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” is a great movie for murder mystery lovers who just want some lighthearted entertainment.