Parents' Guide to

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

By Tara McNamara, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Sharp, layered mystery sequel; smoking, drinking, cursing.

Movie PG-13 2022 139 minutes
Glass Onion Movie Poster

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 13+

Based on 23 parent reviews

age 13+

Layered, Heavily Comedic Sequel

Glass Onion is the sequel to the superb mystery film, "Knives Out." This sequel is funnier and bigger; however, Knives out is still the better film oddly enough. The film is suitable for teens and up. Glass Onion features more sexual content than its predecessor, with a couple laying in bed and making out while wearing bathing suits. This scene is shown twice. Sex toys and sexual references are present as well. Language is heavy for PG-13 standards. Moderate profanities are used throughout the film in multiple variations. There are also two instances of a strong expletive in the film, both clearly heard. Blanc smokes cigars frequently and a side character smokes what looks like weed. Alcohol is present frequently with one character drinking excessive amounts throughout. Violence (MILD SPOILERS) is infrequent. A character is poisoned and we see them slowly die. Another is shot in the chest with a firearm with some detail. This is a great, hilarious mystery that keeps you smiling. However, the culprit, (Risk of spoilers here) much like its predecessor, is a bit easy to predict. It's a well structured story; but it wasn't amongst the trickiest mysteries out there. There are some good twists that I won't spoil though; those that I'm referencing are the real surprises that make "Glass Onion" as good as it is.
age 13+

It serves up a good mystery . . . with plenty of things lacking!

I was into the first Knives Out movie, so when I heard Rian Johnson made a sequel to it, I was excited (and rumors have it, he plans for another Knives Out movie). I do have to give the Glass Onion trailer how it literally leaked nothing of utter importance . . . besides just telling there was going be a murder mystery movie. So when Glass Onion came to Netflix December 23rd, I of course was on it to see at once . . . because I was anticipating this once I heard this movie was happening. And I have to say this, the beginning was slow and really didn't set up anything, actually this movie at first look seems like a no muder mystery movie at all but uncovering the casts' intentions and their relationships to the rich man who owned the Glass Onion. I do love that: on how first watch you wonder if there is actually a mystery, but at the 1 hour 20 minute mark (around there) that's when we see there was a mystery happening all along . . . right under our nose. I really don't like how Rian Johnson/the writers of the movie didn't develop the new characters at all. I felt they were very undeveloped to actually care/sympathies over them and all. They just seemed more or less side characters, and to be honest I feel like that is in almost every movie past 2020. I mean, they have to realise undeveloped characters isn't the best because developed characters actually make you care and enjoy or hate the chaacters . . . but undeveloped characters on the other hand just makes me feel passive toward them. And also . . . why does Daniel Craig carry around this stupid accent that totally does not work for this movie? I mean, just drop it, and just talk in your normal voice because I noticed that, and let me tell you, it does not work for this film! Another thing is how this movie seemed stale in more than one point. How this movie really dragged out on discovering the layers of Onion mystery and how I felt like there were some very uneeded moments! But I am not going to lie, the ending did shock me on what they did. I mean, I do give the movie this: as much as some of the movie was stale, some moments uneeded, and characters very undeveloped, I love how this movie isn't predictable at all . . . how every twist and turn just may come in shocks! Overall, I am satisfied on what I saw . . . but this movie lacked in more than one way which got me a bit frustrated on the movie. The sequel to the Knives Out I can proudly say is a nice addition to the Knives Out series, but the second one falls short from the high standard the first one did, but as we know, a lot of sequels aren't that good, and it is proven right here in Glass Onion. It may lack in more than one department, but in the end the plot and the twist and turns of the movie keeps this movie entertaining enough to see!

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (23 ):
Kids say (34 ):

Writer-director Rian Johnson slices and dices social influencers with sharp humor here, leaving viewers wiping away tears of laughter. This satirical whodunit peels back the layers of modern-day movers and shakers to reveal that, when you get to the core of an arrogant genius, a fabulous fashionista, or a blowhard YouTuber, there's often nothing there. For adults, it's a wink. Teens might need a little help to understand the brilliance of Glass Onion's title, but even if they don't put it all together, the comedy pierces celebrity/privileged culture in plenty of other, more obvious ways. In other words, it's hard to imagine that anyone over the age of 13 or 14 won't enjoy Johnson's Benoit Blanc sequel.

Is it better than Knives Out? Well, no, because with that excellent film, Johnson reinvigorated the entire murder mystery genre. It felt so refreshingly new in 2019, and in the three years since its release, others have tried their hand at the whodunit with some pretty impressive productions -- meaning the bar is even higher now. But still, Glass Onion rolls as one continuous slick burn. And if there's one thing we know about onions, it's that when they're raw, they bite, but the longer they cook, the sweeter they become.

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