Rian Johnson has a specific talent for making people feel very smart and very stupid at the exact same time. When Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery dropped on Netflix, it wasn’t just a movie release; it was a cultural litmus test. You either saw the "layers" coming a mile away or you were genuinely blindsided by the sheer, unadulterated dumbness of its central villain. That’s the point, though. It’s a movie about the illusion of depth in an age where "disruptor" is a job title people actually use with a straight face.
Most sequels fail because they try to go bigger without getting better. Johnson went louder. He traded the rainy, mahogany-soaked vibes of the first Knives Out for the blinding, obnoxious sun of a private Greek island. It was a choice.
The Miles Bron Problem and the Art of Being an Idiot
We need to talk about Miles Bron. Edward Norton plays him with this specific brand of tech-bro arrogance that feels uncomfortably familiar. Honestly, when the movie first aired, everyone was comparing him to Elon Musk. Or maybe Elizabeth Holmes. Perhaps a dash of Jeff Bezos. But the real trick of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is that Miles isn't a genius playing a character. He’s a moron who has convinced the world he’s playing 4D chess.
Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig with a Southern drawl that seems to get more ridiculous—and more lovable—with every film, is our proxy here. He spends half the movie looking for a complex motive. He’s looking for the "glass onion"—something with a clear center but surrounded by intricate layers. What he finds is that there are no layers. It’s just a transparent, hollow shell.
The "Disruptors" are the heart of this mess. You have Kathryn Hahn as a politician, Leslie Odom Jr. as a scientist who has clearly sold his soul, Kate Hudson as a fashionista who can’t stop tweeting slurs, and Dave Bautista as a men’s rights YouTuber. They aren’t friends. They are parasites. They all owe their lives and careers to Miles’s money. This creates a fascinating dynamic because it turns a standard "whodunnit" into a "why-would-they-ever-stop-him."
Why the Structure of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Frustrated Audiences
Some people hated the mid-movie reset. You know the one.
About halfway through, the film literally stops, rewinds, and shows you the same events from a different perspective. It’s a bold move. It’s also incredibly risky because it halts the momentum of the mystery. We find out that Janelle Monáe isn't playing who we think she’s playing. Well, she is, but she isn't. She’s Helen, the twin sister of Andi, the woman who actually built Miles’s empire before being pushed out.
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This shift changes the movie from a murder mystery into a heist film.
It’s not just about who killed whom; it’s about burning the whole system down. The pacing is weird. It’s jagged. One moment you’re watching a slapstick comedy bit about a "hot sauce" eye drop, and the next, you’re dealing with the heavy, existential dread of losing your life’s work to a corporate parasite. That tonal whiplash is exactly what Rian Johnson was hunting for. He wants you to feel off-balance.
The Visual Language of the Mediterranean
Visually, this film is the polar opposite of the first. Knives Out was all about shadows, knits, and clutter. It was cozy. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is sterile. The architecture of the "Glass Onion" itself—the physical structure on the island—is cold. It’s full of priceless art that Miles doesn't even understand. He has the Mona Lisa on loan, for God’s sake.
The cinematography by Steve Yedlin uses the harsh Greek sun to expose everything. There are no dark corners to hide in, which makes the fact that the characters are still blind to the truth even funnier.
- The costumes tell the story better than the dialogue.
- Benoit Blanc’s striped poolside ensemble is a direct homage to 1960s cinema.
- Birdie Jay’s outfits are loud, expensive, and completely impractical for a murder investigation.
- Duke’s constant carrying of a pistol highlights his insecurity.
Everything is on display. It’s all right there.
The Controversy of the Ending
Let’s be real: the ending is polarizing.
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Helen doesn't win by being a better detective than Blanc. She doesn't win by finding a "smoking gun" that stands up in a traditional court. She wins by breaking Miles’s toys. When she smashes the glass sculptures and eventually uses the "Klear" fuel to blow up the house—and the Mona Lisa—she’s engaging in the very "disruption" Miles claims to love.
It’s an act of pure, justified vandalism.
Critics of the ending say it’s a cop-out. They wanted a tidy legal resolution. But Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery argues that when the system is rigged by the people who own the island, you can’t use the system to find justice. You have to destroy the island. It’s a messy, loud, and fiery conclusion that leaves a lot of viewers feeling unsatisfied because it doesn't offer the comfort of a "gentleman sleuth" closing a case. It offers the chaos of a revolution.
The Real-World Inspiration Behind the "Klear" Fuel
The plot revolves around "Klear," a solid hydrogen fuel that Miles is pushing despite it being dangerously unstable. This isn't just a MacGuffin. It’s a direct satire of the "move fast and break things" tech culture. We see it in real life all the time—products rushed to market, safety warnings ignored by boards of directors, and the cult of personality shielding CEOs from accountability.
In the film, Lionel (the scientist) knows it’s dangerous. He says so. But he stays. This "complicity of the brilliant" is one of the most biting themes in the script. It’s not just that the villain is dumb; it’s that the people who know better are too scared or too greedy to speak up.
How to Re-watch Glass Onion Like a Detective
If you're going back for a second viewing, stop looking at the background and start looking at the hands.
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- Watch the drinks. In the first act, keep a very close eye on who hands what to whom. The movie tells you the killer's identity in the first twenty minutes if you’re looking at the physical movements rather than listening to the monologues.
- Listen to the malapropisms. Miles Bron uses words incorrectly throughout the entire film. He says "prehab" when he means something else entirely. He uses "inbreathiate." These aren't just jokes; they are the biggest clues in the movie. A man who can’t master basic vocabulary hasn't mastered cold fusion.
- Track the "Dong." The hourly chime on the island (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, by the way) is a pacing tool. It marks the passage of time but also highlights the absurdity of the environment.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery isn't trying to be a masterpiece of logic. It’s a masterpiece of character assassination. It’s a fun, biting, and occasionally annoying look at the people we’ve chosen to idolize in the 21st century.
To truly appreciate what Rian Johnson did here, you have to accept that the mystery isn't the point. The point is the person holding the magnifying glass. Benoit Blanc is the only one who sees the world for what it is, and even he is nearly defeated by the sheer simplicity of Miles Bron’s stupidity. It's a reminder that sometimes, the most dangerous people in the room aren't the ones with a master plan—they're the ones with a match and a complete lack of foresight.
Next time you watch a whodunnit, ask yourself if you’re looking for a secret or if you’re just ignoring the obvious. Most of the time, the answer is right in front of you, screaming for attention and wearing a very expensive, very ugly linen shirt.
The best way to engage with the franchise now is to go back and compare the "rules" of the first film with the second. You’ll notice that while the setting changes, Blanc’s moral compass never wavers. He hates a bully. And in the world of the wealthy, bullies are the only thing in high supply.
Check out the production design notes from Rick Heinrichs if you want to see how they actually built that massive glass structure. It wasn't all CGI; they built a significant portion of that set to ensure the reflections of the actors were genuine, which adds a layer of realism to an otherwise surreal movie. Observe the way the light hits the glass—it's meant to be distracting. That’s the "Glass Onion" in a nutshell: a distraction from a very simple, very ugly truth.
Seek out the "Director’s Commentary" on various platforms. Johnson is incredibly transparent about where he hid the clues and which ones he thought were "too obvious." It turns out, most of the things audiences missed were the things he was most worried about being "too easy." It’s a fascinating look into the mind of a writer who is obsessed with the mechanics of storytelling.
Stop looking for the hidden meanings and start looking at the surface. As Blanc says, it’s so dumb it’s brilliant. No, wait. It’s just dumb. And that is the most honest thing about it.
Actionable Insight: To sharpen your own "detective" skills for the upcoming third film, Wake Up Dead Man, practice observing "incidental actions" in films. Watch what characters do with their hands when they aren't the focus of a shot. This is where Rian Johnson hides his best work. Also, re-examine the concept of the "Unreliable Narrator" by watching Rashomon (1950), which heavily influenced the mid-movie perspective shift in this film. Understanding the history of the genre makes the subversions in the Knives Out series much more satisfying.