glass onion movie review ebert

The Perfect Flavor of Everyone: Bob Ducsay on Editing Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Writer/director Rian Johnson and star Daniel Craig are back for the sequel to “ Knives Out ,” and so is editor Bob Ducsay . In an interview with RogerEbert.com , Ducsay talked about some of the challenges of editing a film to leave in enough clues so on the second time through audiences will say, “Ah, that’s what I should have been looking at!”

I think you had the hardest job of anybody in the movie. Putting all the pieces together so we see what you want us to see but not what you don’t want us to see, must be a real challenge.

I’d say I had the best job of the movie because it’s so much fun, especially on a film like this. It is a complication; the genre is a complication because you want to give the audience truth so that they are actually getting information that would be valuable to them if they knew that it was when they were watching it.

What you leave in the film and what you take out is sometimes a challenge. Rian wrote an unbelievably beautiful screenplay that solves a lot of those problems up front, but there are many, many items that you make a lot of judgment calls on and a lot of adjustments. What we tried to do in the film was give the audience absolutely the most information we could possibly give them without ruining the movie for them. That’s a challenge, and that’s a trick. But it’s also what made it such a fun movie to edit because one of the tricks of my job is pretending I’m the audience member, even though I know everything that happens. You try to make judgments. “What do I know? What do I think?” Things that I know about making movies, you have to bring all those things into consideration in the hopes that you are actually understanding what the audience is getting at any particular time. But honestly, it’s so much fun to do that.

I’m going to keep this spoiler-free, but I think it’s fair to say that the film has some repeated scenes seen from a different perspective and some repeated scenes. How do you approach that?

Again, it really starts with the screenplay and what the screenplay establishes. Because obviously, when Rian was writing the movie, he was thinking about all these same things that we then put a microscope on in post-production. But this “ Rashomon ” situation that this movie allows for, it’s extremely exciting. Because you’re just trying to figure out how far you can go without giving the audience too much so the whole thing collapses.

On the way home, they can go, “Oh, that’s it.”

Right, exactly. Because that’s the delight too, right? If you were to watch the movie a second time, you would see what you missed. And some things are amazing, the things that that I think that we thought would work. And it turns out they do, that the audience doesn’t pick up on it. And it’s not a trick. [laughs] Well, it is a little bit. It’s like a magician. It’s like we know you’re looking here, we’re not intentionally misdirecting you, but we know you’re looking here so it’s hard for you to see this. It’s nice. It’s great. When I see a movie like this, I’m delighted as well, because it’s so much fun to see it a second time and see what’s really going on.

At what point did you come into the film?

I start at the very beginning of production. I was on location with the movie in Greece. They shoot day one and I have that material day two, so I start putting the movie together right away. About two weeks after we finished shooting, there is a version of the movie. It’s still very rough, of course, but it is the movie. It is a version of the movie, I should say. And obviously, many more months of editing go into it after that point, including the effects. Although I will tell you that the movie is completely watchable without the environmental work. In other words, the environmental work is extremely additive because it’s such an exciting place to be. You really want to be there. It’s an unusual place where the movie is set. I’ve worked on a lot of movies where the visual effects are completely necessary to understand what’s going on, but it’s not the case here.

Is it typical for you to be involved so soon?

It’s pretty common in feature films. And it’s been very rare that I haven’t gone on location with the movies. Sometimes for budgetary reasons, it’s difficult to take any extra crew, including editorial. You can do it. It’s not like it can’t work. But the thing is, is that the close proximity of the picture editor is extremely helpful to the production because of the immediacy. We all learned during the pandemic how you could do things with Zoom and other collaborative remote tools, but there is nothing that replaces actually interacting with each other. And it varies depending on the director, but Rian likes to come by a couple of times a week while we’re shooting.

He’ll come by in the evening and we’ll go through the material from the previous week. And sometimes there are things that he’s particularly interested in seeing and just seeing how the movie’s coming together. We all learn things while we’re shooting so adjustments can be made. And it’s the reason for doing it. What you hope to do is you hope to get through the movie and have figured out everything you needed to shoot while you’re shooting. It’s not uncommon after you put the movie together, to have to do more photography. But if you can avoid it, it’s better. The less you have to do, the better. We did some inserts, but that’s all. We had no real additional photography on this film. That’s part of the goal. Part of the goal is you’ve learned as many things as you can to keep from having to do things inefficiently by doing it in post.

Especially with a big ensemble cast.

Right, exactly. Because it becomes hard to put people back together, it’s expensive, etc. But also just from a creative standpoint, forget about getting all the shots or something that you think, Oh, wouldn’t it be great if we had this? It’s just understanding how the movie is coming together as a movie and not just what it means to shoot dailies.

The editing in that scene near the beginning where you see all the characters opening the invitation box is dazzling, so witty and so brilliantly edited, like a puzzle box of its own.

It was so fun to put that sequence together. It is like you’ve got this little puzzle box that you put together. There’s a lot of design that goes into these things ahead of time because you have to know how the puzzle box works, and [production designer Rick Heinrichs ] and his department designing the whole thing and all that. A lot has to be figured out in prep. But for me, it was just fantastic because of all the intercutting. It’s something where film as a medium is different than anything else because of the ability to switch location and time just on a cut. It’s really pure film editing a sequence like that. It was an absolute blast.

What is the best advice that you ever got about being an editor?

One of the things that I really appreciate about my relationship with Rian is he’s always pushing for simplicity in the editing, which is generally a good goal with anything about making a movie. Simple as in, design and anything. But it’s something that we really strive for. And it wasn’t that I didn’t know this. I really appreciate it because I’ve tried to continue to apply it, not just in my work with Rian, but I make it a point of emphasis in my work to construct things as simple as possible and stay out of the way of the actors and the storytelling. Sometimes you have to do things with some brute force to get something to work. But if there’s a simple way of doing something, it’s almost always the best way.

Just knowing we need to take this line out because we’re a little out of balance here, or we need to add this flavor back in because we’re a little out of balance. And it’s very micro work, it’s very nuanced work. But to me, it’s my favorite thing to do. I just think it’s so much fun. And every change you make has an impact on other things. It’s like you’re constantly just adjusting. You’re just tuning in and just focusing it as well as you can to just have the perfect flavor of everyone.

I’m always learning things, and so it doesn’t make any difference how long I do this. There’s always a new piece of information or a new emphasis, something new to highlight that I hope makes me better at my job.

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” will be available to stream on Netflix on December 23rd.

Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

A Moral Compass: Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, and Tim Fehlbaum on “September 5”

Plant the Tree: RaMell Ross, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor on “Nickel Boys”

We Need Art More Than Ever: Jude Law, Jurnee Smollett on “The Order”

Kyle Mooney and Evan Winter Go Back in Time with “Y2K”

Popular reviews.

Close to You

Lady in the Lake

The best movie reviews, in your inbox.

Glass Onion Reviews Are In, See What Critics Are Saying About Daniel Crag’s Knives Out Sequel

Daniel Craig is back as Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

Filmmaker Rian Johnson has been on a roll lately, becoming a household name thanks to his work on projects like Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out . The latter whodunnit was a wild success that has kickstarted a bonafide franchise starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. The first sequel is coming in the form of Glass Onion , with reviews starting to roll in. Here's what critics thought of Craig and Johnson's latest mystery.

The first Knives Out movie featured an outstanding ensemble cast, and Rian Johnson does the same with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery . Daniel Craig is once again back as Benoit Blanc, joined by the likes of Kate Hudson, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, and Dave Bautista. The critical response for this sequel has been somewhat mixed, although CinemaBlend's own Mike Reyes gave it 5 stars claiming:

Even trying to describe how much fun this movie is feels like a disservice, as words can only go so far. Engrossing in its mystery, and simply giddy in its deft hand at humor, Glass Onion shows that Rian Johnson has nailed the sequel game in its tracks. Though he may despise the game of Clue, Benoit Blanc should take comfort in the fact that this new adventure yet again sparks the same sort of joy that the classic board game adaptation has brought to the world.

As previously mentioned, not all critics felt similarly impressed with Rian Johnson's sophomore effort into the Knives Out franchise. Roger Ebert 's own Christy Lemire praised Glass Onion 's performances and visuals, but thought it was an inferior sequel. As she mused:

Ultimately, though, the giant glass onion that rests atop Miles’ mansion becomes an all-too-apt metaphor for the movie as a whole: Sparkling, but empty.

The AV Club 's Todd Gilchrist might disagree with that assessment, as he praised Glass Onion for the way it was able to innovate when launching off of the first movie. He even went so far as to call it a "perfect people-crown pleasing" movie that is neither a horror movie or superhero flick. In his A- review he maintained,

In the best possible way, the closest cinematic analogy I can draw in energy and appeal to Glass Onion is Ocean’s Twelve, which similarly avoids retracing the steps of its predecessor, and is also so brisk and entertaining that viewers feel lucky to be invited into the VIP section with the movie stars who are partying there.

Given that Glass Onion is the first sequel to come from Rian Johnson's burgeoning franchise, there's no doubt going to be plenty of comparisons to the movie that started it all: Knives Out . While the cast, setting, and story go down differently, USA Today 's Brian Truitt maintains that the original is far superior. As he wrote in his review:

The thing is, that first Knives Out just cuts differently. Evil Chris Evans in a cable-knit sweater helped, obviously, yet it was such a fresh breath of air in so many ways. The characters meshed and matched better, and there was an intimate coziness to the whole thing. The sequel starts like gangbusters, and has a couple of outstanding reveals that leave you questioning what’s actually happening, however it loses steam heading into the climactic third act.

But in juxtaposition, some critics have been claiming that Glass Onio n is an even better movie than Rian Johnson's 2019 original. The Associated Press ' Lindsey Bahr actually thought it was funnier and bigger than Knives Out, which could mean big things for the future of Johnson's franchise. As she put it,

As the title suggests, there are layers and layers to this mystery — even the central murder isn’t revealed until deep into the film, when Johnson rewinds and reframes much of what we’ve just seen. And it’s bigger, wilder and funnier than its predecessor.

Of course, it remains to be seen how audiences will ultimately respond to Glass Onion . There's been a trend lately with movie having a disparity in critical response vs audience reaction. Case in point: the Rotten Tomatoes scores for Black Adam . I also have to wonder how the response to the Knives Out sequel might vary depending on when/how they see it. The movie is going to theaters first, before heading to Netflix. And as such, there's a huge chance for spoilers.

CINEMABLEND NEWSLETTER

Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery hits theaters on November 23rd, before arriving on Netflix on December 23rd. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your trips to the movies in the New Year.

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.

‘That’s Plain Rude!’ Viral Video Of Emma Watson Scolding Robert Pattinson Because He Can’t Get Her Name Right On The Harry Potter Set Is So Wild Years Later

Critics Have Seen Mufasa: The Lion King, Noting Prequel Traps In The ‘Visually Stunning’ Disney Film

I’ve Been Enjoying Matlock, But There’s One Thing About It That Drives Me Crazy

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

About Rotten Tomatoes®
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening This Week
Top Box Office
Coming Soon to Theaters
Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

Fandango at Home
Prime Video
Most Popular Streaming Movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

84% Carry-On Link to Carry-On
86% Nickel Boys Link to Nickel Boys
79% The Last Showgirl Link to The Last Showgirl

New TV Tonight

-- Laid: Season 1
-- Fast Friends: Season 1
-- Virgin River: Season 6
-- Beast Games: Season 1
-- Aaron Rodgers: Enigma: Season 1
-- The Secret Lives of Animals: Season 1

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Where to watch.

Watch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery with a subscription on Netflix.

What to Know

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery brings back Benoit Blanc for another wildly entertaining mystery rounded out by an outstanding ensemble cast.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery solves the often deadly riddle of how to deliver a satisfying sequel to a movie that was nearly perfect to begin with.