The movie that turned Rian Johnson into one of the star turn writer/directors, Knives Out, was an exuberant, star-filled Agatha Christie homage that simply worked. Even the oddity of Daniel Craig hamming it up as a southern American gentleman Poirot-clone somehow succeeded. The sequel, “Glass Onion,” transports the twisty puzzle to a Greek island, to a tale of a tech billionaire (Ed Norton) entertaining his murderous supplicants in a locked-room setting. In essence, the plot setup is the same as in Knives Out and the locale is even more atmospheric, so this viewer came to the viewing primed for delicious plot twists and belly laughs from a cast of established stars. Unfortunately, the acting performances are routine, with clear blame placed on Ed Norton, who transmits no charisma at all. What attempts at humor are made quickly fizzle out. And the unrolling of the plot offers the viewer complexity without depth. As light entertainment, Glass Onion whiles away a couple of hours, but the earlier magic is gone.
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