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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

filmcolossus.com

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Re: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

#41
post #5

Ugh- I thought that when it said spoilers ahead, it would be just the movie being reviewed in the article, which I don’t plan on seeing. Then there were spoilers for other movies (Get Out) that I intend to watch sometime.

Get Out was released 5 years ago. I think if you haven't seen it by now that's on you. Also, Darth Vader is Luke's father, Snape kills Dumbledore, and Bruce Willis is dead the whole movie.

Yep, got it, lesson learned. “Spoilers” can mean spoilers for anything. Back to my cave I go.

Re: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

#44
post #14

> Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery might be one of the worst written movies I’ve ever seen. Then this person has not seen very many movies. > And now Glass Onion will haunt me for the rest of my days. I don't care too much for this superlative, unduly passionate style of pop culture critique even if it is a joke. I enjoy reading negative critique of movies I like, as long as it shows understanding that reasonable pe…

The author also "absolutely loathed Star Wars: The Last Jedi" which to me feels like an overreaction to a movie.

The Last Jedi was completely disjointed from the previous movie, introduced "fuel" as a plot device that hadn't been even mentioned in the 7 previous movies, gave us the Mary Poppins Princess Leia, had a weird and heavy handed side quest in a casino planet that ultimately had no impact on the plot, killed Snoke without giving the audience some form of closure as to who he was, had BB-8 pilot an AT-ST as an ex-machina, had Rose prevent Finn from sacrificing himself, gave Luke depression (which is ok) but handled it as a throwaway joke, and finally had him drink green milk from some alien cow teat.

That's just from the top of my head, but I do loath The Last Jedi.

Re: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

#45
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well said. The author is basically complaining that their steak dinner was the worst pizza they’ve ever had.

Except that this was not a steak dinner, not even close. It was a microwave pizza with ananas served in “Italian” restaurant.

No, that was my point. The movie was very good for what it was, and the article’s complaints are almost all based on the author making incorrect assumptions about the movie’s intent and then complaining that the writing did not meet their incorrect assumptions.

It’s fine to dislike the movie; about 7% of critics and moviegoers do, according to rotten tomatoes. But at least have the grace to understand it.

Re: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's not an overreaction to that movie.

Why?

iirc it's extremely authoritarian. "Listen to your betters without question, for they know better than you. You do not need to understand their reasoning." We follow our heroes through an adventure and then our expectations are subverted when we learn their insubordinate adventure was bad and we're bad for rooting for them. Sorta flies in the face of everything people liked about star wars before it.

Re: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

#47

I’m geniunely wondering what the audience is supposed to get from all the 2020 references (Covid, Among Us, Zoom, Twitch), and the barrage of celebrity name-drops. I feel like the film was written for some specific Twitter subculture Rian Johnson is a part of, and maybe they find all the references hilarious. The mystery is dull, the dialogue obnoxious, the jokes unfunny, and the camera has that patented ugly digital…

Pretty sure they're supposed to get that it takes place in 2020

Surely the on-screen text “May 2020” at the beginning should have clued us in.

And I’m not sure why the year even matters for the plot.

Re: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

#48

Glass Onion takes the well-worn detective genre and creates some genuinely surprising moments by "cheating" a little with what it shows the audience. This article says it should have played it straight. I think that would have made for a more standard, boring movie. But whatever, that's just opinion. But I think it is silly to call it bad writing. Bad implies that the writer didn't have command of their craft. It is…

> creates some genuinely surprising moments by "cheating" a little

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I know this much: you can't cheat.

If you do, and you keep some fundamental fact hidden until the last minute, or if you use some kind of magic, or if the murderer was a complete outsider, or if the victim died by accident and nobody's guilty, or, God forbid! if it turns out the victim isn't actually dead, or it was all a dream... then the audience gets angry. Sometimes very angry. That may be what happened here.

To paraphrase Walter Sobchak, this isn't 'Nam. There are rules to writing detective stories.

Re: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

#49
I too was disappointed with "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery."

My first struggle with the movie is that it breaks the first rule of a good mystery story in that you need the audience to have enough information that they can plausibly solve the crime themselves. Glass Onion only provides information when it becomes relevant to move the plot along. You could have never known certain things, you could have never even guessed at them because the information did not exist right up until it was needed in the story.This happens repeatedly. Midway through there is a plot twist that you could have never guessed or seen coming and that pretty much ends any sense of suspense or intrigue.

I also don't care about any of the people in the story as people or characters nor do I find any of their relationships convincing. It seems implausible that any of them would have ever been friends. Close your eyes and imagine these people hanging out at a bar together and you can't. How did they interact? What was their friendship like? You never see it and so the weight of the strain of the existing relationship isn't ever fully felt. The characters in a "Knives Out" were caricatures too, but they were family, not friends. Everyone knows that strain. Everyone can relate to that relationship dynamic. You don't get to choose family. Friends tend to match each other to some extent. Give them some kind of connection. They are all trivia nerds and were a trivia team. Anything.

With all that said, I want to rewatch "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery." I want to see how much was visible in scene. How much could I have technically figured out. It is an interesting movie, I am just not sure it is a very good one.

Re: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bad Writing

#50

I’m geniunely wondering what the audience is supposed to get from all the 2020 references (Covid, Among Us, Zoom, Twitch), and the barrage of celebrity name-drops. I feel like the film was written for some specific Twitter subculture Rian Johnson is a part of, and maybe they find all the references hilarious. The mystery is dull, the dialogue obnoxious, the jokes unfunny, and the camera has that patented ugly digital…

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