2022 whodunnit, dir. Rian Johnson, Daniel Craig, Janelle Monáe:
IMDb /
allmovie. The tech
billionaire hosts a murder mystery party on his private island. It
doesn't go well.
The first film did a fine job of being a technical murder mystery
with significant character; this one is less impressive in that regard
but more fun, as it parodies billionaires and influencers, and if
you're going to punch, you might as well punch people who have lots of
money and power. (And it turned out to be timely in pointing out the
cult of the self-declared genius billionaire.)
The multi-stage puzzle box was a big part of the trailers, and the
scenes of its solution are enjoyable… but I think it's used best when
we see the way someone else solved it later, in a brief shot that
tells us a great deal about that person. Once more Rian Johnson makes
things serve multiple purposes, and it's lovely to see this effective
economy. (Though the overall plot is one that I've read plenty of
times in mystery stories, gur zheqrere frggvat guvatf hc gb ybbx nf
gubhtu gurl'er gur vagraqrq ivpgvz, a very slight disappointment after
the actual innovation in the first film.)
Daniel Craig is out from under the shadow of James Bond and having
even more fun than last time. Janelle Monáe is on another level,
though, with a performance that makes sense both before and after you
find out the character's motivation at the time; she's just more
real than everyone else there.
I talk about this film further on
Ribbon of Memes.
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