The palm leaves rustle from the Mediterranean winds, songs from island birds grow distant as the splashing of waves from the salty ocean creep towards the shore, and the hurried footsteps of a killer escaping the crime scene fill the ears of watchers. 

Coming into the spotlight and setting the record straight for many murder mystery films to come, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery has taken the moving-making industry by storm.

All in the name of a baffling homicide, thousands of movies swarm towards this niche plot to attempt to make it big in the box office.       While the concept of a bloody conundrum is simple, some films hit the bullseye of success while others plunder to their death of bad reviews from both the average viewer and the critic.

 Glass Onion, however, nailed it perfectly as it made its way to the top of Netflix’s top-watched movies.

The film made its first debut in September of 2022 at the International Toronto Film Festival. But it did not pick up traction until it was bought and released by Netflix on December 23, 2022. 

With constant raves from influencers on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, Glass Onion reached its peak of $15 million dollars in just a matter of days and over 209 million hours of viewership in less than two weeks.

From scheming rich people to multiple jaw-dropping murder segments,  Glass Onion has your mind thinking like a detective, as producer Rian Johnson takes you along the storyline of a spine chilling murderous crime on an opulent island getaway. 

To paint the picture, a charming yet mystifying tech billionaire by the name of Miles Bron, played by Edward Norton, invites old friends with an eerie past to his extravagant private Greek island. And while everyone is enjoying many of the rich amenities that Bron’s lavish villa has to offer, all hell breaks loose when someone turns up dead, suspected to be killed by poisoned alcohol. But in the blink of an eye, detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, is on the case to find the killer with mischievous motives.

Glass Onion is a sequel to Knives Out, which was released on September 7, 2019. But there is a clear-as-day difference of quality between the two films. 

Not only are the characters in the sequel more well-rounded and developed but the storyline is much improved, meaning that there are not as many plot holes as there were in the first movie.

The only similarity that the two share is that they both cast Daniel Williams, but other than that, the only likeness they share is the titles.

 There is no reason to watch the first film because you won’t be getting background knowledge, just a similar plot line.

Surprisingly, Glass Onion does not feature any actor or actress debuts. All characters cast have had multiple years within the limelight.

For instance, Madelyn Cline played Whiskey, but she was a star in the show Outer Banks, What Breaks the Ice, The Giant, amongst many others. And Kathryn Hahn, who portrayed the character of Claire Debella, also acted in WandaVision, Mrs. Fletcher, and Step Brothers.

Because there are so many well known actors and actresses in Glass Onion, many fan bases have been attracted to the film. This explains how the movie got traction so fast. 

Before diving into the masterpiece of a movie, there are negatives to point out. 

Around the one hour mark is when it starts to go boringly slow. It’s like the directors just added unneeded dialogue to drag out the screen time. 

And just like any mystery film, there is just about always a big red herring. But the one in Glass Onion was rather expected and kind of silly.

In terms of comedic appeal, Glass Onion seriously lacks this concept. Although the film doesn’t revolve around comedy, there should at least be a baseline of understanding that any film that is portraying murder should have some type of humor to lighten the topic for younger audiences. 

The jokes that are present in the movie are rather corny, and don’t click with the audience. I don’t recommend that kids under the age of 10 watch this. 

But all negative aspects aside, Glass Onion still remains as a theatrical sensation. As proved by Google Reviews with an overall 3.3 stars of 5, ninety two percent from Rotten Tomatoes, and 7.2 of 10 stars from IMDb.

Pulling from Google Reviews, many people said that it exceeded their expectation from the first one, which I agree with wholeheartedly. And from Rotten Tomatoes, reviews state how orchestrated each character’s performance was, and  yet again see eye to eye with that statement. 

Glass Onion deserves its time in the spotlight. You’re in for a treat filled with astounding acting, a captivating storyline, and aesthetically pleasing island-like set.