"Glass Onion" was born with an advantage over its predecessor, and it is no coincidence that, this time, Craig clearly assumes the role of protagonist previously played by Ana de Armas: already properly introduced to the viewer (who in "Knives Out" was even led to doubt the subject's efficiency), Blanc can now have her personality and idiosyncrasies explored in more depth, which allows us to even get to know her boyfriend-husband (in a way that I would never dare to reveal). At the same time, Johnson once again elaborates a complex plot that turns on itself without ever losing control, tying up all the ends, no matter how small, in a dramatic architecture so satisfying that the immediate impulse is to watch the film again to check it out. Each element and the way they fit into the rest, just like in the previous feature. It is inevitable that we repeat much of the criticism of the previous film, since Rian Johnson demonstrates immense narrative cohesion when putting together his plots, planning structures that at first sound simple and direct until a revisit from a different point of view exposes previously ignored elements that contextualize everything, we thought we knew. In this aspect, the director's strategy echoes the musical definition of "fugue" that cellist Yo-Yo Ma offers in a quick tip and which involves precisely the gradual overlapping of voices: "The fugue is a beautiful musical enigma based on a single melody; When you superimpose that melody on itself, it starts to change and becomes a new, beautiful structure."

In terms of general structure, the second film in the now franchise is a repetition, with all the Hollywood exaggerations of the first, starting with the eclectic stellar cast made up of names like Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista, going through use of a confined environment in which a mysterious murder takes place and which the private detective, whose presence is inadvertent once again, must then solve with the help of a lavish amount of flashbacks. It is, in short, another whodunnit in the best Agatha Christie style, but with an infinite budget that allows, for example, the story to take place on an island in the Greek archipelago where technology billionaire Miles Bron (Norton in a very affected but great performance which, not unintentionally, evokes names like Howard Hughes, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other similar figures from the real world) has a gigantic mansion with a surreal glass pier that emerges from the sea and an even more surreal "glass onion" in your center that functions as your office.

This whole construction of the mystery is very good and perfectly follows the genre's guide, with the addition that both its protagonist and the characters that are part of this game are great to follow. The problem is that the film simply loses itself in what is most fun about these stories: the investigation and the resolution. A good whodunnit also turns the viewer into a detective. It's that narrative that plays with our perceptions, since as interesting as placing the pieces on the board is letting us be part of the moves that lead to checkmate. And that's where the sequel to "Knives Out" stumbles. While the first half of the film is dedicated to building the suspense and introducing each of the suspects and their possible motivations, the second part is entirely focused on showing how everything happened, leaving no room for us to participate in this investigation.

As soon as the crime happens, the script starts throwing answers on the screen. For more than an hour, the film becomes a great exposition of everything that happened and leaves the audience out of this feeling of being a bit Benoit. At no point do you feel deceived by following false leads, as there is barely time for that. In fact, the whole thing is so rushed that the protagonist himself stops being the brilliant detective we were promised and becomes just the narrator of what the film hid from us. Everything is shown so hurriedly that there is barely time for us to see the insight of the character that won us over in the previous film. In the end, it lacks the charm of the first film. At the same time, there's no way to say that "Glass Onion" is a bad movie. Despite not being on par with "Knives Out", it remains very fun and entertaining with a mystery that is not brilliant, but is still entertaining. Like this glass onion, it is worth much more for the adornments of its layers than for the secret it pretends to keep.

The production sets its events in a fantastic location and features a gallery of characters with vast reasons to eliminate someone - characters who, also following the film adaptations of Christie's books, are played by renowned actors, forming a notable cast. Of course, the very size of this cast ends up making a deeper development of their personalities unfeasible, which come to be defined by one or two well-defined traits and which each performer embraces with fun commitment, also allowing the filmmaker to satirize specific groups that deserve the ridiculous (and which, not least, began to torment the director for daring to stray from the obvious in the controversial "The Last Jedi" - and, not surprisingly, the misogynistic Duke has a tattoo of the Empire on one of his fingers). It is inspired, in particular, by Kate Hudson's composition, which illustrates the eternal cycle followed by so many influencers: controversial actions and speeches followed by apologies that soon give way to a persecution complex for "having the courage to say what they think", which leads to new controversies and new excuses and so on. In this sense, it is worth noting that "Glass Onion" incorporates the Covid 19 pandemic into its universe, being precisely the influencer, of course, the first to disrespect social distancing (and the lace mask she wears is, like everything else in her life, pure showcase).

More than the film's central mystery, the characters - and the way Johnson writes them - end up being the most attractive part of "Glass Onion". With each passing scene, the viewer accumulates more and more anger towards each of the Disruptors (the name given to the group by Norton's character), so that it is difficult to reach the third act without wanting them all to end up behind bars. Following the line, he presented in the original film; Johnson uses the characters from "Glass Onion" to attack the US economic and intellectual elites and the way they work to maintain the status quo. Playing with the arrogance and lack of scruples that shape relationships in the capitalist world, the filmmaker paints an unflattering portrait of American society and the way it abandons any conviction in the face of the possibility of profit. Even though they feature some caricatured moments, the "villains" of the new film are terribly realistic and it is easy to imagine some dialogues being delivered seriously by personalities like Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.

The script's only major weakness lies in the central mystery. Unlike what he did previously, Johnson keeps the identity of the victim until the second act of "Glass Onion". The revelation of the murdered man is surprising, but becomes much less impressive when Blanc inevitably discovers the culprit and his motives. Through the detective, the filmmaker himself admits the obviousness of the revelation with a dialogue that sounds much more like self-criticism than the traditional reconstruction of facts in whodunits. Although he gets lost at one point or another in the script, Johnson makes up for this slip-up with sharp direction. More dynamic and agile than the previous one, especially in its second half, "Glass Onion" keeps the viewer on the edge of their seats thanks to its well-placed cuts and the way each suspect is framed from the beginning to the end of the film. There is an even greater immediacy in the sequence than that present in the original feature, especially in its second half, when Blanc starts to share the leading role with another character. Less surprising, but just as fun as its predecessor, Glass Onion holds the audience's attention with its incredible performances and has the potential to satisfy even the most demanding fans of playful detective mysteries like this.

With a formidable production design in the conception of Miles' mansion - from the glass furniture in the billionaire's office to the large room that houses much of the story and includes mini-environments with a distinct personality -, "Glass Onion" also benefits from great sound design by Josh Gold, who stands out, for example, by using phone notifications and noises from the protective glass of a painting to generate tension, which is highlighted by the dynamic editing (but didactic in revealing each relevant element) by Bob Ducsay, Johnson's regular collaborator.

Once again ridiculing the superficiality and mediocrity of economic "elites", Rian Johnson has established himself, with only six feature films under his belt, as a director with clear thematic concerns and who knows how to mix them with his genre exercises with efficiency - and best of all: with an infectious sense of humor, making "Glass Onion" an exuberant, sumptuous and hilarious comic cocktail. With impeccable timing, the script knows how to balance two different formats, making the plot always engaging, serious, but sweetened by the acidity of an intelligent, insightful humor and occasionally even a hilarious comedy. With a dynamic narrative structure, which comes to life and readapts according to the development of the supporting characters' arcs, the mystery thriller is impeccable in its quality and features an editing that takes us back to classic detective stories from the 50s and 60s.