[This article contains spoilers for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery]
Just before the holiday season and the close of 2022, an already-popular film arrived on Netflix: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery hit streaming on December 23. The Netflix original—which had a theatrical release during Thanksgiving week—has already garnered much praise for its “wildly entertaining mystery rounded out by an outstanding ensemble cast.” The ensemble consists of Daniel Craig as the familiar Southern-accented, technologically illiterate Benoit Blanc, along with a host of new characters: Janelle Monáe as the award-worthy Andi Brand—and her twin sister, Helen; Edward Norton as the laid-back genius and billionaire, Miles Bron; Madelyn Cline and Dave Bautista as the wild-and-free Whiskey and Duke.
The film sails away from its predecessor’s setting, trading an old house and a messed-up family for the Glass Onion mansion and a group of lifelong friends—many successful—seemingly held together by Miles Bron’s irresistible wit, cunning, and of course, riches. Though this film is starkly different from Knives Out (2019), it manages to reiterate a powerful claim about truth.
Glass Onion continually proves that the truth is ugly, but it’s something we must all confront.
Blanc always arrives at the truth; both movies see him as someone nearly perfect, though not enough, and he always ends up being enraged by depravity and viciousness. In the first film, he’s picking apart the inner-workings of a rich family built on Harlan Thromby’s authorial career. In the second, he picks apart a friend group that gathers at Miles Bron’s Glass Onion to play a game—this time more dangerous than before.
At the Glass Onion, Blanc is always on. He’s observing and deducing, trying to make an educated guess on the intricate web that, for decades, the group has been weaving. He knows that practically everyone’s wealth—from Duke’s viral streaming platform to Claire’s somehow-always-successful political campaign—is all funded by Bron’s billion-dollar company, Alpha. As the film unfolds, however, he learns that Andi Brand was at one point the co-founder of Alpha, even accusing Bron of stealing her ideas. This provides a constant tension between the two of them as Blanc continues his inquiry.
Eventually, the film reveals that Andi’s southern-accented twin sister has been standing in her place to try to catch whoever killed her months before the game even started. In typical “whodunnit” fashion, the film keeps revealing layers to the plot—thus the film’s title is fitting.
As a murder mystery film, Rian Johnson has truly mastered the craft. Re-watching the movie, I noticed tiny details that Johnson put in the first half to garner continuity with the plot twist. For example, when Birdie Jay is ranting about the friendship dynamic of the group, viewers can see her bag move in the background. This is later realized as Helen throwing a recording device into her bag. Also, when the lights turn off and panic ensues, Benoit Blanc originally says, “Helen!” when meeting her outside the Glass Onion. The continuity is masterful; the score is just as enticing and suspenseful as the first film (though I still prefer the first); the script is good and the message isn’t overwhelmingly in your face.
A common thread between the first and second films is Benoit Blanc’s reaction to the information he gains. “Cruel or comforting,” he quipped in Knives Out, “this machine unerringly arrives at the truth.” But not without great cost to Blanc. As the objective, removed observer of the events that take place at the Glass Onion, he witnessed firsthand the depravity, manipulation, and devilry that every player brought to the game.
He’s entirely annoyed by Miles Bron’s con-act of playing the genius behind Alpha (Blanc knew he heard Bron say fancy words that don’t actually exist). He’s convinced that the only honest person in the group was Andi (and now it’s only Helen he trusts). He’s also aware of his limits: Helen asks if he could be the one to just get the confession or solve the problem, and he responds that his jurisdiction is presenting evidence in court, not eliminating a killer.
Benoit Blanc’s continued struggle for the truth always ends up worse than he imagined it. There’s always a darker underbelly that he must be the first to see in broad daylight. He’s tormented by the weight of finding the real problem and the real culprits while wading through a sea of mysteries and distractions. Many of us can relate. We all see something real, raw, even unbearable in time, and we all might have the same justifiable reaction that Blanc does. We may be pressed to see injustice, violence, and hatred in the world and especially on social media.
Benoit Blanc’s character is not perfect, but surely something to admire. He is by all means an objective truth-seeker who cares much about peace. As Christians, we can be the same. We can be salt and light in a world of darkness and hatred. Whatever façade religious institutions or other programs put on may be exposed—for the sake of truth and peace.
Glass Onion differs from its predecessor in that it does not address the hardships and technicalities that come with murder suspects that are all inter-related by blood; it instead addresses power dynamics and the general perspective of the rich on themselves, as well as the middle-to-lower class struggle to be seen and recognized as human. Helen’s intention behind solving her sister’s murder is not simply to see rich people brought to justice, but that rich people would truly see people other than themselves without being caught up in their own self-centered echo chambers.
That’s the burden we carry as Christians, too. We see injustice and the abuse of power, and we want vindication. But we also campaign for people to be seen, where they otherwise may not be. Whether in social media circles or in real-life situations, justice is a heavy burden.
One helpful truth from Glass Onion (that Christians can find in Scripture as well) is that bringing justice is not a one-man job. Benoit Blanc’s jurisdiction goes no further than the courts; he then relies on others to bring about the next step toward justice. (Of course, in the film, Helen brings everything to a burning close by destroying the Glass Onion. Christians, however, should peacefully garner justice and truth.)
God cares about justice. He cares about the “little” people of society: third-grade teachers, retail workers, people of little note in celebrity media. He cares for the poor and the oppressed; the widow and the orphan; every human and every sparrow; he blesses those who bless them (cf. Psa. 41:1, 68:5; Prov. 14:21).
Truth-bearing is a daunting task which exacts a heavy toll. Christians are those who bear the clearest examples and revelations of truth, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Bible. We must not be idle, but rather we must let this truth motivate us to stand up for the poor, the oppressed, and the victims of this world and its cruel patterns. We rest in the hope that the One who is Truth, Jesus Christ, will soon bring everything under God’s justice—that all things will be made new (cf. Isa. 51:4–5; Rev. 21:5).