How 'Knives Out' sequel 'Glass Onion' peels back a diabolical satire

If Daniel Craig’s heroically hangdog sleuth Benoit Blanc appears to be the only consistent factor in the first two “Knives Out” films, let me offer that writer-director Rian Johnson also has a recurring villain: the moronic rich.

In 2019’s smash hit, Blanc must figure out who killed the patriarch of a family of ne’er-do-wells seeking to pin the blame on the immigrant housekeeper. The children and/or their spouses were sinister, vapid, generally unpleasant. Good examples of the diminishing returns on inherited wealth and a decent argument for the estate tax. For no matter who killed dear old Dad, the trust fund kids were the real bad guys.

With “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” — streaming on Netflix Friday after a brief theatrical run back in November (that completely bypassed Columbia; thanks, Regal and Goodrich) — Johnson sets his target on tech bros. Disruptors. Influencers. The well-funded and powerful who have proclaimed themselves the saviors of our modern world and demand deification in return.

With Elon Musk blowing up Twitter and crypto-pirates melting down their bitcoin, the film is ideal for the current moment in culture.

The mystery is almost secondary to the Gilded Age satire. Not to mention discussing the twists and turns is no fun. So I tread lightly. “Glass Onion” is about a group of friends who receive an invitation to a murder-mystery game on a Greek island. There’s the politician (Kathryn Hahn), the MRA streamer (Dave Bautista), the ethically-compromised scientist (Leslie Odom Jr.), and the Instagram influencer (Kate Hudson, as funny as she’s ever been), all invited by their longtime friend and frequent benefactor, the megalomaniacal Miles Bron (Edward Norton).

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Also receiving an invitation is Bron’s spurned business partner Cassandra Brand (Janelle Monae), which surprises everyone. Some more than others. Blanc also receives an invitation and everyone assumes he is there to assist with the synthetic murder-mystery. But Blanc’s presence turns out to be complicated.

When the game begins, Bron announces he will be the victim, and it’s up to everyone else to figure out whodunnit. But then one of the guests turns up dead. Then, the lights go out and another guest drops. With chaos ensuing, Blanc must put his deduction skills to the test before more bodies pile up.

Blanc instinctively knows Bron will be at the center of resolving this mystery one way or another. What Blanc surmises about Bron’s guests is they all have a reason to hate their old chum. For his money comes with strings, and he expects things in return. Almost everything their old college buddy demands comes at the cost of sacrificing themselves.

They might like Bron’s unlimited resources, but they resent being under his thumb. Nor do any of them want to admit to themselves that, without Bron’s vast wealth, their marginal talents wouldn’t yield them much.

Along the same lines, Bron doesn't consider any of these people his friends. Sure, they started out at the same point of life but he moved well past him. They are pawns, not pals.

These personal dynamics do not make any of the island’s guests or their host a killer. But it does make “Glass Onion” interesting. Johnson, in interviews, professes a deep appreciation for how Agatha Christie crafted her mysteries around class struggle.

Most of Christie’s reliably classic chestnuts are built upon an elaborate conspiracy of the very rich where one man, using reason and logic, cuts through the plotting to find an essential truth. “Glass Onion” is simply a smart Christie update.

Johnson, in these same interviews, observes that audiences in dark eras of history are attracted to such heroic know-it-alls. If Hercule Poirot had his heyday in the 1930s between two world wars, Blanc is our modern incarnation. Indeed, I’ve often argued the appeal of comic-book films is people want to see someone swoop down from the heavens and solve all the world’s problems.

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What is less problematic with “Knives Out” is that relying on a character who is smart is better than relying on a superhero who needs not only otherworldly powers, but the full force of our military-industrial complex.

The interesting dynamic here is Blanc being pitted against Bron. Norton is so utterly gifted at being beguiling that we often forget his character is a manipulative moron in the same vein as so many of our modern business “wizards,” who have duped us into believing the act of acquiring money is the same thing as being intelligent. Figures like Musk — or Sam Bankman-Fried or Elizabeth Holmes — have convinced people they are the only one who can solve our current conundrum.  That their know-how of technology, as well as their charm with venture capitalists, makes them worthy of world domination.

In some ways, they are the antithesis of someone like Blanc, who is strange and unassuming — but always keeping his eye on the most obvious thing right in front of his nose. Whereas Bron and his real-world ilk must keep things cluttered and convoluted to keep their ruse afloat.

Perhaps the funniest part of “Glass Onion” is that Netflix, another disruptive behemoth, paid nearly half a billion dollars for the rights to this film and the next “Knives Out” sequel. The theatrical run around Thanksgiving was described by the streamer as an advertisement for its Netflix debut. An advertisement that banked over $15 million dollars in a few days.

Had the film received a normal theatrical distribution, no telling how much it would have made. But a traditional theatrical release wouldn’t have been as “disruptive,” would it? More ironic still is Johnson receiving $100 million as part of this deal. Perhaps the next “Knives Out” will feature a villain filmmaker who cashes in to help kill the movie theater experience.

James Owen is the Tribune’s film columnist. In real life, he is a lawyer and executive director of energy policy group Renew Missouri. A graduate of Drury University and the University of Kansas, he created Filmsnobs.com, where he co-hosts a podcast. He enjoyed an extended stint as an on-air film critic for KY3, the NBC affiliate in Springfield, and now regularly guests on Columbia radio station KFRU.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: How 'Glass Onion' peels back a diabolical satire