On Christmas Eve, my family and I sat in our small hotel room in the middle of Coachella Valley, scrolling through Netflix for things to watch. We settled on Glass Onion: A Knives’ Out Adventure. My love for the original, Knives Out, made watching its sequel inevitable. Though most movie sequels miss the mark on executing the magic of their predecessors, Glass Onion  captured the greatness of the original film while also adding its own uniqueness.

The story is set on billionaire and antagonist Miles Bron’s private island off the coast of Greece. Joining him are a group of old friends, who are elite, but different individuals: Birdie Jay, a supermodel fallen from grace, Claire Debella, Connecticut governor and Senate candidate, Lionel Toussaint, head scientist of Miles Bron’s company, Duke Cody, a buff men’s rights activist and video streamer, Cassandra ‘Andi’ Brand, who co-founded Miles Bron’s company. Also, unexpectedly, Benoit Blanc, the world’s greatest detective, ended up crashing the old friends’ annual vacation. These old friends join Miles every year on a weekend vacation to release the steam of their everyday stressful lives. 

For the first half of the film, the story moves at a steady pace and sets the foundations for what the viewer assumes is coming. That is all until Duke, the over-masculine gym boy and Twitch streamer, falls dead mysteriously. His sudden death causes a wave of panic and sets off the story in an entirely different direction, a plot twist so unexpected that I leaned closer to the television. Through the events of Duke’s murder, it’s revealed that Andi Brand is actually dead and instead, her twin sister, Helen, is pretending to be her in order to solve Andi’s murder mystery. 

Although I’ve never particularly enjoyed the twin trope, Glass Onion executes it in a way that keeps the story enjoyable and entertaining. Not only did viewers get to learn all about Andi Brand, but we also got to learn about the much different Helen Brand. The contrast between the two sisters made it clearer to me the path Andi went down, and how she ended up in the situation she was in.

Through the new perspective that Helen Brand provides viewers, the more and more about the complicated Andi Brand and her fallout with Miles Bron is revealed. The two tech innovators’ stories struck similarity with other tales of the real world. One instance of that, which was even referenced in the film, is Mark Zuckerberg’s infamous betrayal of Eduardo Saverin in the notorious tale of Facebook’s origin. The little connections that I made while watching the film made the story all the more enjoyable. 

As the story of Andi’s power loss becomes increasingly clear, the character of not only Miles Bron, but also his other friends, comes into question. As pointed out earlier in the film, every single one of Miles’ invites needs something from him: therefore giving Miles leverage. Not only did Miles betray Andi, but so did every other friend on that island. They did so not because Miles was right, but because Miles had the upper hand. The insights of the outsider, Detective Blanc, reveal the dreadful characteristics of the power-hungry, glory hunters of Miles Bron’s friends. While at first these characters were enjoyable, and even likable, their regrettably corrupt personalities made it hard for me to continue liking them. I felt that I could no longer rightfully support them if they supported the clearly wrong Miles.

These characters’ loyalty or lack thereof to the deceitful and murderous billionaire showed me an active problem in the world outside of cinema. Only when Miles lost all his money did his friends turn against him. Not only were they so-called ‘fake friends,’ but they also proved to be easily bought. Standing up for what’s wrong, instead of right, became natural for them as they grew so accustomed to covering up the horrific reality of Miles Bron. Through this very realistic situation where money is king, Glass Onion reveals and emphasizes an unfortunate reality. 

In American society, time and time again, ethics and morals are pushed aside for the sake of financial gain. The character of Miles Bron embraces what it often means to be a wealthy man in America. While Miles wants to pretend he is virtuous and helping out the world, he is really just exploiting everyone around him. Glass Onion calls out the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of the wealthy while making an entertaining story. 

The beautiful visuals, captivating mystery, and political questions that come into play while watching Glass Onion make it the perfect movie night watch. Daniel Craig’s charming performance as detective Benoit Blanc makes me want infinitely more movies in this franchise. As Knives Out 3 is reportedly in the works, I look forward to observing another outlook on wealth and its impact on people.