Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Netflix Originals
In “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”, world famous detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) finds himself at a lavish private estate on a Greek island owned by billionaire Miles Bron (Ed Norton) who invited his close group of friends for their annual gathering to take part in a murder mystery dinner. The guests included model and fashion designer Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson) and her assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick), Connecticut governor Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), brilliant scientist Lionel Toussaint (Lesli Odom Jr.), social media influencer Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) and his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), and Miles’ former business partner Andi Brand (Janelle Monae) who had a falling out with the whole group when Miles cut her out of the company they both started together based upon a business idea Andi laid out on a bar napkin at their favorite bar.
The members of the group seemed to have a love/hate relationship with Miles, who appeared to have been crucial in all of their individual successes, but seemed as though this is what also gave him the ability to control them with the secrets and lies their lives were truly built on. Beniot Blanc’s invitation appeared to be sent to him from someone else in the group, as Miles shared with him that he did not send him an invitation, which was a puzzle box, though realized the boxes could be reset so gladly welcomed the famous detective to join the game. Beniot said he felt very concerned for Miles because each guest had motives that could cause them to really murder Miles, but Miles just laughed it off.
Miles shared with Beniot that fact that he had created an alternate power source from hydrogen and a flake the size of a dime was powering everything on the island. Several members of the group expressed concern over the level of stability in Miles’ invention, but he blew them off and said that his luxury Glass Onion island resort was proof. When they later gathered for the murder mystery dinner, Beniot easily solved the mystery even before the game began, which caused Miles extreme frustration as he had planned to play the game several days over their stay on his resort island. No one could have guessed that someone would actually end up dead on this trip to paradise, and many things were not as they seemed causing everyone to be a suspect as far as Beniot Blanc was concerned.
To complicate matters further, the deceased guest had a gun that was always on him, but went missing at the time of his death. A short time later it was used to shoot Andi while she was talking with Beniot in the courtyard, but due to a timed power outage it was too dark to identify the shooter. With one person apparently poisoned and another shot, Beniot decided it was time to involve the authorities, however due to the tides and the way Miles built his dock they were unable to come out until the following day. Beniot suggested they all return to their rooms and stay locked in until morning but instead they all gathered in the sculpture room, where Andi decided to show Miles how she really felt about him taking away her company.
As they all travel deeper down the rabbit hole, viewers discover nothing is as it seems, but quite the opposite, and pulled off brilliantly by this group of colorful characters that is highlighted by a star-studded cast. Rewatching the “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” helps reveal many of the subtle clues that may have been missed the first time around.
Rated: PG-13
Runtime 2h 20m
