Glass Onion, the Knives Out follow-up, will be hitting Netflix in December, and the teaser trailer has finally dropped for the murder mystery movie. The first movie provided a unique spin on the murder mystery genre as it was full of twists and surprises that no one had seen coming. Given the epic conclusion, fans of the movie had been desperate for writer-director Rian Johnson to create a sequel, clamoring to see what detective Benoit Blanc would do next.
The trailer to the sequel is as perfect as it could possibly be, for it not only depicts the setting and tone of the film but it also introduces audiences to the new group of murder suspects without giving anything away. And between the distinct Greek setting, the strange puzzles the characters are given, and Dave Bautista being more over-the-top than Drax, the teaser actually creates quite a few questions.
The Setting Is Completely Opposite To The Dark Halls Of Thrombey Mansion
One of the reasons why the original Knives Out is beloved, along with the unpredictable mystery, is the tone. Almost the whole film takes place in Thrombey Mansion, and with all the wood fires, ornaments gathering dust, the deep red color palette, and the cozy sweaters, it has a warm feeling that few other movies do. However, the same can’t be said for Glass Onion, which takes place in sun-soaked Greece.
Although fans have known the setting for a while, the trailer has shown a beautiful landscape (front and center). Just as the scenery in Knives Out was almost a character itself, that’ll be the same with Greece in Glass Onion, only in a much different way (and as there were so many hidden details in Knives Out, there’ll likely be hidden details scattered throughout the Greek resort too).
Most Of The Characters Are Strangers
In what is another element of the movie that is completely opposite of the first film, the ensemble cast of characters in Glass Onion doesn’t seem to know each other. Knives Out was about one family and the conflict between each relative, whereas the sequel is about a bunch of strangers, but they’re all connected to tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton.) In that respect, it’s similar to other murder mystery movies, like Clue and Murder on the Orient Express, which could be worrying for some fans of the movies.
Knives Out was so talked about because it managed to avoid murder mystery clichés and completely subvert expectations. The trailer shows strangers forming their own teams trying to get to the bottom of and uncover a murder, so it could be more of a run-of-the-mill murder mystery movie than the first.
It’s Going To Involve Actual Puzzles
Where the mystery surrounding the death/murder of Harlem Thrombey in the first movie was a huge puzzle for both Benoit and the audience, the sequel will involve the strangers actually trying to solve puzzles. It’s unclear why they have to solve these puzzles or who created them, but the characters seem pretty distressed in the trailer when trying to solve them. They’re most likely the creation of the unknown killer, but with it being a sequel to Knives Out, anything is possible.
Knives Out breathed fresh life into the murder mystery subgenre and totally reinvented it, influencing many other Hollywood movies. In the next four months alone, murder mystery films See How They Run and Amsterdam are both set for release and have the same tone as Knives Out. However, Glass Onion seems to be unapologetically influenced by its peers, as the whole puzzle aspect of the trailer seems extremely similar to the 2014 crime caper, Game Night.
Dave Bautista Will Be The Standout
Dave Bautista’s character, Duke Cody, gets more screen time than any of the new characters (which is probably because the actor is the most bankable star of the cast at the minute). But it seems like Cody is the most eccentric character in the new movie too, as the YouTuber is acting quite bizarrely.
On top of that, though Bautista unlikely did his own stunts this time, Duke will be in a lot of action scenes too, as he’s seemingly in a game of “chicken” with an oncoming car when riding a motorbike. Though Bautista hasn’t had many memorable roles outside of Drax in the MCU, it looks like Duke could be the standout character in the movie.
There’s An Actual Killer
While it could be a red herring, there is a leather-gloved hand pointing to a silver handgun, meaning that there likely is a killer in the sequel (whereas, in Knives Out, Harlan’s death occurred due to a series of accidents). “Chekhov’s gun” is a rule in filmmaking that means if a gun is shown to an audience, it has to be used later on.
That was the case with the knife in Knives Out (which was again another great way of subverting expectations, as it ended up being a plastic stage knife). That could be the case here, and the gun could be fake too, but it’d be unlikely that Johnson pulled off the same trick twice.
It Isn’t A Prequel, Which Was Heavily Theorized
Many fans theorized that Glass Onion might have been a prequel, as it was mentioned in Knives Out that Benoit solved an impossible murder mystery about a tennis player (and it was speculated that was the story for Glass Onion). But now the trailer is out, there’s no sign of any kind of tennis player, disproving the theory.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t a prequel. It could be like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in that it’s a prequel but most people don’t actually know that it’s set before the events of the first film. And as a third Knives Out movie is in development with Netflix (via Netflix), fans could still see the story about the tennis player.
Norton Has So Many Shots In The Trailer But Doesn’t Speak Once
When Glass Onion was in development and then production, Norton’s casting was obviously one of the most exciting, as he’s a seasoned actor with a ton of accolades under his belt (and the trailer shows that he plays an important part in the sequel too). However, the trailer raises so many questions about the characters before audiences even fully understand what’s going on, especially when it comes to Miles Bron (Norton.)
Bron is front and center in the trailer, but they’re all reaction shots and he doesn’t say a single word in the teaser. His lack of dialogue in the trailer raises some huge suspicions, and some think he’s likely to be the killer.
It’s Even More Dazzling-Looking Than The First Movie
The first movie looked great and the tone was completely unique; however, it does look like Glass Onion might have doubled down on the dazzling set-pieces and the excess that comes with wealth. The movie is filled with glitz and glamour, including a mansion in Greece with a huge indoor firepit casually built into the lounge.
Along with wealth comes characters who think they’re entitled to what’s not theirs. While Glass Onion’s suspects might not know each other like the first movie’s suspects do, the characters from the two movies still have very similar personalities based on the trailer, as it’s full of megalomaniacs and narcissists.
