I liked "Knives Out", a funny script with some good performances but ultimately a plot that, for me, wasn't quite clever enough. I feel almost exactly the same way about this sequel, released on Netflix in very late 2022.

Miles Bron (Edward Norton) is a tech billionaire, who gathers together some of his closest friends and business associates on his private island for a weekend of sun, partying and a murder mystery adventure. They are joined by Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), the worlds greatest detective, who also received an invitation to attend. When one of the guests really dies, Blanc is forced to put his skills to genuine use, but this game started long before anyone arrived on the island.

The performances in the film are really good, it's an all-star cast, even down to the many (many) cameos. The characters aren't exactly subtle, but they're given a funny script to work with and wring all the humour there is to get out of it. It's interesting how quickly covid protocols look strange now, as we've only really been one full year without them, but they add an interesting element here. The Greek Island looks appealing, and the cinematography brings that to the fore.

I'm just not totally convinced about the story again though. It's a different format to the last one, it's not so much whodunnit as whydunit. The films biggest reveal comes at the start of the second act, as we, the audience, are provided new information that reframes what we've seen before. I felt this was a bit of a letdown, particularly as they were utilising one of the most recurrent clichés in all of fiction. The rest of the conclusion is patchy, still performed well, particularly from Craig here, but full of bits that don't quite add up to a second level of scrutiny.

It's really enjoyable, with the cast and the dialogue engendering an awful lot of goodwill with me. I'll certainly watch the third one when that comes out too, but this is not a film I'm going to rush back to watching anytime soon.