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movie review - Glass Onion

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

This is a charmless sequel to a very different and original murder mystery. All that's really the same is the main character. But whereas in the first movie the detective is an unknown element among many, here he's the central story and I think the entire movie suffers for that. Because he's *too* present throughout, and he's just not really that interesting. I've been thinking about it this way: as the viewer's representative in the impenetrable world of the story, you can either be:

• An obvious outsider, with say, an implausible accent and super-human capabilities in an otherwise normal-seeming world, as with the first movie
• A more grounded character who the viewer comes to inhabit.

Also, they inserted a more-or-less whole reproduction of Elon Musk - or at least palatable portions of his public image. I don't think there was any cause for such an action. The rest of the characters behaved in ways that I didn't find terribly realistic, as if written by someone who's efforts to write realistic dialog strained the entire story to the edge of breaking.

Not recommended. Not a great start to the year!