Review: Get your knives, and popcorn, out for 'Glass Onion'

Another year, another Austin Film Festival in the books where locals could catch sneak peeks of soon-to-be released flicks. This year's fest, from Oct. 27-Nov. 3, was a study in polarity, kicking off with as dreadful a picture as there ever was — Darren Aronofsky's dehumanizing "The Whale" — and wrapping up Thursday with delight incarnate — Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery."

Here's what you should know if you missed the closing film at Austin Film Festival 2022.

Everything is bigger and sharper.

"Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" is, by the way and by the title's indication, a sequel to 2019's "Knives Out," which made its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin. That hit murder mystery could be entered as state evidence in the trial against Hollywood stagnancy. What a breath of fresh air: an original film that evoked the best genre gems, with cozy New England vibes and a roster of A-listers playing against type (Chris Evans! Daniel Craig!) and beloved yeomen chewing into great supporting roles (Jamie Lee Curtis! Toni Colette!).

For the sequel, writer-director Johnson drops the hero of "Knives Out," genteel Southern detective Benoit Blanc (Craig), into another mystery dripping with new blood. A group of old friends, all self-professed "disruptors" in their fields and also all obnoxious, convene for a pandemic vacation on a Greek isle owned by their tech billionaire friend, Miles Bron (Edward Norton). Among them: wine-chugging politician Claire (Kathryn Hahn), "men's rights" activist/streamer Duke (Dave Bautista), scientist Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.) and gaffe-prone fashionista Birdie (Kate Hudson). Oh, and Andi (Janelle Monae), Miles' former business partner whom he just screwed out of half of their Google-esque company.

Miles has set up a murder-mystery game for their weekend escape at his gaudy vacation palace, dubbed the Glass Onion. But when Benoit Blanc is in the mix, you can bet the game will get deadly.

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"Glass Onion" is no play-it-safe clone of "Knives Out." Rian has maintained the first film's core — what looks like a standard Agatha Christie case takes several postmodern left turns, as a colorful gumshoe helps a young woman find justice among a nest of wealthy idiots — and strapped it to a Formula One car.

As the title suggests, "Glass Onion" is glittery, layered and strange. The stars seem starrier, the comedy seems bigger and the world itself seems to have grown more absurd. The cameos, man ... the cameos. It all holds together, though, never seeming crass. It helps when your script is this smart.

Craig, foremost, gets to have more fun. The Foghorn Leghorn-in-an-ascot quality of detective Blanc finds new shades in "Glass Onion." He gets to be giddy, he gets to be exasperated and we even get to see a little of his private life. Crucially, the narrative's not driven by Blanc. As all great fictional detectives are, he's primarily here to herd cats, collect clues and let criminals out themselves when everyone gathers into a room at the end.

The cast so perfectly embodies these precisely drawn sketches of rich-and-powerful gargoyles that exist in real life. In a post-screening Q&A via video call Thursday, Johnson admitted that the movie's not subtle in its send-ups, though he didn't write any character as an analogue for one person. Still, you thrill at Bautista's Alex Jones stand-in getting roasted by his mother (the sublime Jackie Hoffman), and you nod sadly as you laugh at the hubristic foolishness of Norton's Elon Musk facsimile. The film, she is large, but the intelligence driving it, she is larger.

But no one, and we mean no one, threads a better million-dollar needle than Hudson. Her Birdie, a casually racist, vibes-driven apparel maven with a wide-brimmed sun hat, a penchant for scandal and an id the size of Montana, belongs in the pantheon of great cinematic comedy characters. You could probably find her wandering South Congress right now. Go on, check.

Rian Johnson is the people's auteur.

During the Q&A, the filmmaker dropped morsels left and right. And thank goodness, because this "Onion" is dense. There's so much to peel back, apologies, in this film, and Johnson clued the Austin viewers into one particularly fun use of a fugue (the music kind, not the trance kind) as a metaphor, borne from a throwaway line in the first 10 minutes.

And honestly, Johnson just seemed humble and delighted to share his passion with people. The festival audience gave him love for his earlier work on "Brick" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." It's hard not to love a guy who uses $40 million in Netflix money to roast the rich and clueless for 2 hours.

Also, he grabbed a recently purchased, comically long pipe (think Gandalf) a couple times on camera, sheepishly smiling at the sight gag. No wonder all these stars want to hang out with him in Greece.

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Not to wish another franchise upon the world, but ...

... we have to. In 15 years, we reserve the right to complain about "Knives Out 9: Eleanor Rigby." But "Glass Onion" flexes the durability of Johnson's twist on a classic genre formula and the adaptability of its central sleuth. You could see Craig taking Benoit Blanc anywhere: to solve a murder in an Oregon lodge, to solve a murder in a New York jazz club, to solve a murder in space. Heck, the character is so fun, you could see the erstwhile James Bond passing the linen suit onto a new Blanc.

How to see 'Glass Onion'

"Glass Onion" plays a limited run in theaters starting Nov. 23 and hits Netflix on Dec. 23. Either way, you're seeing it with your family for the holidays.

Grade: A-

Starring: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, Kathryn Hahn

Director: Rian Johnson

Rated: PG-13 for strong language, drug content, some violence, sexual material

Running time: 2 hours, 19 minutes

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin Film Festival review of 'Glass Onion,' a layered delight