Glass Onion Isnt Trying to Trick You

According to director Rian Johnson, every twist in his sequel is right in front of your face.

- Alison Willmore

THERE’S SOMETHING comforting about the whodunit, its promise that every question will be answered in the end by a perceptive gumshoe who sets the world to right. Rian Johnson, the filmmaker most responsible for making the musty genre hip again, likes to point out that, historically, it has been popular in times of uncertainty. Knives Out, his unexpected 2019 hit about the death of a famous novelist, was decidedly a product of the Trump presidency with a plucky immigrant heroine pitted against the victim’s entitled family. His follow-up is underscored by another destabilizing event: Set during a weekend getaway on a private Greek island owned by tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), the movie takes place (and was written) during those delirious early months of the pandemic. Even Johnson’s southern-fried shamus, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), is having a tough time in lockdown, having beaten a retreat to his bathtub until a new case lands on his doorstep.