Rian Johnson’s latest project saw the return of the much-loved knives out mystery, only this time there were no cable knits or baked beans and sausages!
Whilst I enjoyed the film, having been a big fan of the previous instalment, I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. It was very obvious that this second film was a ‘netflix’ film compared to the original, which felt much more authentic and sophisticated. I found the notion of the ‘glass onion’ and the metaphor attached to it rather clunky and forced; not to mention the reveal of Andy being a twin sister. All of this just felt quite cliche and very unrealistic. The audience couldn’t really follow along and the solve the case alongside Blanc like we could in original film. With all the revelations and plot twists, the story started getting a bit lost and became near impossible for the audience to work out the so called ‘mystery’.
As well as this, despite the star-studded cast, the only stand out performance was that of Janelle Monae who played the twins, Andy and Helen. Her performance helped to maintain the mystery of the film with the tension between her and the other characters; this indicated to the audience that something was not quite right about Andy being at Bron’s paradise. With this being said, there were elements of the film that I really liked. I thought that the costume design worked really well to reflect the personality of each character. particularly, the aspects of masks. When all of the characters meet to board the boat, their masks work very well to portray their personality with Birdie Jay sporting a sparkly fish net mask, providing no protection at all to herself or others. This is a clever detail to highlight Miss Jay’s lack of awareness and ignorance, as well as her care to maintain a fashionable look; even in a global pandemic. On the other hand, Lionel’s mask was much more protective and simple. This shows his scientific awareness, potential morality as well as his ability to care for the facts rather than superstition.
Overall, I enjoyed the film but, as often what happens with sequels, I think the original film is much more enjoyable and interesting to watch. The smaller details started to get lost amongst the big budget, big cast and big plotlines Rian Johnson was trying to cram into the 2h 19m run time.
By Ella Cooper
BFI Film Academy