A teaser trailer for “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” the long-awaited sequel to “Knives Out,” came out on Sept. 8. Writer and director Rian Johnson (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) returns with lead Daniel Craig (“No Time To Die”) with yet another star-studded cast and hopefully a twist as genius as the original.
According to the trailer, Johnson is taking viewers from the Thrombey family mansion to the private island getaway of tech billionaire Miles Bron, played by Edward Norton (“The French Dispatch”). Once again, a crackball group of rich weirdos are entrapped in a murder mystery under the investigation of detective Benoit Blanc, played by Craig. The trailer prominently features a MacGuffin of an elaborate “Jumanji-ish” puzzle, though Craig’s narration informs us that “for one person on this island, this is not a game.”
Craig and Norton are joined by a cast of A-listers, including Janelle Monàe (“Antebellum”), Kathryn Hahn (“Private Life”), and Leslie Odom Jr. (“Music”). The first film’s comparisons to 1985’s “Clue” stay true to the sequel with its mismatched collection of characters, including a tech entrepreneur, a candidate for the Senate, a fashion designer and a buff YouTube star.
As a teaser to the upcoming film, the trailer succeeds at getting any filmgoer pumped for the mystery that awaits them. Its lavish setting is accompanied by depictions of explosions, spontaneous gun shots, and raucous parties. This is all soundtracked by the tantalizing clicking from the cryptic puzzle.
To anyone who enjoyed the clever background details of the first film, this sequel looks like another game involving creative thinkers and their keen eyes. If the trailer offers any clues to the plot of the film, they might be hidden in the teaser’s transitions. One quick clip shows a cell phone call from the senate candidate and a fax message reading “nootropic nasal spray.”
The sequel is under pressure from the critical acclaim that awarded “Knives Out.” With its political humor, suspenseful plot and careful incorporation of classic mystery tropes while also remaining surprisingly original, the first film became an instant classic that proved supremely successful at the box office. One may hope that this new film is not cursed with sequel-itis and fulfills Johnson’s promise of being a true standalone film, judgeable for its own merit.
Netflix is clearly betting on the film holding up after outbidding both Amazon and Apple last year in March for the film’s sequel rights. The company paid $469 million for the rights, a significantly higher amount than the original’s gross of $271 million.
The odd title of the film, according to Johnson in an interview with Netflix last month, is taken from the Beatles (“Let It Be”) song of the same name. “I’m always fishing for something fun that Blanc can grab onto as an overwrought metaphor that he can beat to death,” he said. Given this info, one can predict that the mystery’s solution may involve clearness, or maybe something that was always in plain sight.
The film premiered at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10. It will debut in select American theaters at an undetermined date in November and its streaming debut is set for Dec. 23 on Netflix.
Image from Netflix via YouTube
