Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Rian Johnson’s followup to Knives Out, is a fun whodunit but perhaps a tad less so than the first one. Nevertheless, it’s a wild ride all the way.

Inspired, at least in part, by the Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins whodunit The Last of Sheila, it contains lots of references to that complex game-filled concoction.

It’s as if Johnson were taking a line from the Beatles’ song that serves as the title for the movie and saying, “Here’s another clue for you all!” 

While I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, I found it a bit harder to engage with the characters than I did with the first one. And early on I spotted the clue that gave it all away; I kept thinking there might be another twist, and there were twists aplenty (one of which I anticipated), but no, if you notice the telltale clue, you’ve solved the whodunit. But there are still multiple pleasures to be savored.

BTW, this is one of those movies where I’d recommend that you don’t check the cast on imdb until you’ve finished watching it. 

I don’t want to say too much more, but I think Rian Johnson and I see the world through very similar eyes in some ways (you’ll understand when you finish the movie). After all, he grew up enjoying the musicals of Stephen Sondheim and the whodunits of Agatha Christie, and he has a special fondness of Angela Lansbury. Their cameos, which are over in a few seconds, are only a few of the many celebrity cameos that fill the movie, sometimes when you least expect it.

And of course, he dedicated the movie to Lansbury and Sondheim.