It's a dangerous thing to mistake speaking without thought for speaking the truth

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2022

#46 : Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Entertaining second dose of Rian Johnson’s labyrinthine crime mystery, with Daniel Craig on good form as Hercule Poirot-esque detective Benoit Blanc, here investigating a murder-themed party that turns deadly.

I watched the first Knives Out film and very much enjoyed it - and I had a suspicion my kids my like it too, particularly our youngest.  And it's fair to say I was right - from the minute she saw it, we were treated to a countdown to when Knives Out 2 (as it was known before it had an actual name) was coming out and it was made very clear that we were going to watch it in the cinema.  And so, whilst the lovely Mrs Reed and the eldest were off in New York for the weekend, me and the youngest toddled off to Hemel Hempstead in anticipation of a good time.

And a good time was very much had - it's in the same style of the first film in terms of being an ensemble piece (featuring much misdirection and rug-pulling) centred by a most entertaining performance by Daniel Craig.  But it's also different enough that you don't feel you're watching a rehash of the original.  And that's all you really need to know - you don't need to watch the first film in order to enjoy this, but that's also very watchable (in fact, I think I preferred the first one) so there's no reason not to start there if you haven't seen it.  They're both patently ridiculous, but very enjoyably so.

The supporting cast is a pretty starry affair, all of whom perform exactly as you'd expect but the stand-out for me was one of the less experienced actors - Janelle Monae does an excellent job in a role of a wronged woman.  It's also got an amusing selection of cameos, having the pub-quiz worthy honour of containing both Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim's final film appearances.  Hugh Grant also makes an unexpected appearance, but I think my favourite was Serena Williams who totally catches you by surprise - it's quite cleverly done.

It's surprisingly spiky in terms of social commentary at times, with plenty to say on celebrity culture, tech bros and general entitlement but it also manages to be pretty amusing - the chilli sauce scene had us chuckling big time (in horror).  And yes, I know I've not really told you very much about this film, but you're better off that way if you've not seen it - and it's well worth a watch.  At time of writing, it's available to watch on Netflix and I'm guessing it will be there for quite some time yet.

#47 - Not such an enjoyable film, but not without merit
#45 - Tedious yet intriguing