I don't agree there are no clues - Claire says Andi "changed" that there is "something wrong", and Blanc even calls her "Helen" at one point (sure that one is right before the reveal, but still). They are blink and you missed it moments, but on a rewatch, it slots into place And honestly... I don't mind Miles being the murderer either. It supports the entire Glass Onion metaphor of something that seems complicated but just isn't. It might not be a "plot twist" in the traditional sense, but it definitely plays with your expectations about the genre of a murder mystery, just in a different way than Knives Out did. Because just as Blanc said, we all knew Miles was an asshole, but we kind of thought he was a smart asshole, who wouldn't do something stupid like this. I get why one wouldn't like it, but I personally think that in the story that Glass Onion wanted to tell, it fit in quite well.

@johnmartin4900

Жыл бұрын

Blanc call her helen is done so fast it sounds like he says hell, especially because of his accent. I wouldn't call it a clue per se, because it doesn't rightly tell you that something's off or not as it seems. Which, while clues don't necessarily need to do that, it just comes across as completely unrelated and seems shoehorned in so that rian could say that there were clues. Claire saying Andi changed, I completely agree with you.

@michellej1372

Жыл бұрын

The biggest clue is surely at the start when Blanc and Helen have arrived on the island and are alone. Helen says "This rich person shit is weird" to him - that doesn't fit what we later learn about Andi as she was rich and would have known what Miles and the others were like. I do think there could have been a few more clues put in like Jane says about different tastes or perhaps some grieving.

@johnmartin4900

Жыл бұрын

@@michellej1372 While true, we don't know enough about andy at that point to be able to judge whether that's real Andy or not. And because it's not an interaction with someone who already knows her, there's nothing to indicate that it could potentially be a deviation from her normal behavior. If anything, her part of the conversation in the poolhouse afterwards, where she's accosting the Miles and the rest of the disruptors would reinforce what Andy/Helen says to Blanc earlier in the movie. None of what she says seems that far outside of how Andy felt about them.

A co-worker was going ON and ON about Glass Onion and hounded me until I watched it. She was stunned when I told her it was "okay." I couldn't pinpoint why I was so disappointed. Now, I know why- thanks! :)

Hi Jane! This was a good video as usual, but I felt like offering my own perspective as someone who loved the movie (Spoilers for other readers) For the end twist about Miles being the killer, I think there's a bigger change from "Miles is a monster" to "Miles is a bigger monster". About an hour of the movie sets up that Miles will be a *target*, with almost everyone having a motive against him, and of course, his murder being placed in their heads. Even when Duke dies, seemingly from poison, everyone initially thinks that it was an accident due to Duke drinking the glass that's intended for Miles. Our asumption goes from "Miles is a target" to "Miles is the culprit", which is a much bigger shift in our initial assumptions. As for Andi having a twin sister impersonating her, I'd say there's more buildup to it than you say. Despite inviting her to begin with, Miles is the most shocked out of everyone about Helen's arrival. Very early on their arrival, Helen (as Andi) comments to Blanc how weird this rich people stuff is, despite Andi, having been Miles' partner for years, having full knowledge of what it's like to be rich. Claire explicitly comments on how Andi's changed, not knowing that it's Helen, after she calls out the disruptors at the pool. And Helen, as Andi, outright yells how she's looking for the truth later that night at the party and that "my life was stolen from me by someone, but everyone in this room". By the time we find out about Andi being dead and Helen being her twin impersonating her, all those moments that seem to just be results of an awkward situation with an ex-friend are recontextualized for us. Miles is shocked not simply at Andi accepting his invititation, but that she seems to be alive after he killed her. Andi wasn't simply making small talk with Blanc, it was Helen showing how unfamiliar territory this place is for her. The reason Andi's changed as noted by Claire is because it's not Andi. And her life being stolen away from her and the "truth" she's looking for wasn't simply about the Disruptors' betrayal, but Andi literally being murdered. Which falls under creating a new reality based off what we've previously perceived and then later learned to a tee. Still though, that's just my perspective. And I'm happy to have heard yours as well! Looking forward to the next video as usual!

@jeremyroberts9065

Жыл бұрын

That's what I thought as well. Thanks for saying it. 🙂 Still, I always find Jane's videos entertaining and informative, even if I disagree with the premise.

@janekalmes

Жыл бұрын

I’m glad you enjoyed the movie, Kirby, and thanks for sharing your perspective! I’m happy to have heard it! I think your use of “recontextualized” is exactly the word I was searching for while making this video.

How you explain plot twists has really helped my writing. It’s so simple, but makes a world of difference!

@janekalmes

Жыл бұрын

I’m so glad!

My problems with Glass Onion are honestly less with the story and more with the characters. When they all finally turn on Miles at the end, THAT'S where there's no satisfaction. Because despite them having supposedly been worried about Andi, they barely react at the news of her death TWICE and continue not to turn on Miles, so there's no reason for them to turn on Miles at the point they DO except that they had fun breaking things with Helen so now all the sudden they're good people. It just needed more meat, they did so little with so much time.

@janekalmes

Жыл бұрын

I 100% agree. I may make a second video explaining my thoughts about the ending.

@aff77141

Жыл бұрын

@@janekalmes Could be interesting! You'd probably be better at putting that into words than me lol

@sashaking1115

7 ай бұрын

Yeah that’s true

Personally, I liked Glass Onion just as much as Knives Out. (Spoiler Warning) Someone already discussed how the Miles twist was actually that he faked being the culprit’s target, and it wasn’t just making Miles the monster into an even bigger monster as made out in this video, so I won’t go into that. But as for the reveal that Andi was really Helen, I found that engaging. Blanc had been acting like a fish out of water gawking at all the wealth and fame around him the entire first act of the movie, which felt a bit like a regression of his zany, but still intelligent and focused character in the first movie to me at first glance. So seeing all the scenes again knowing that he was on the island with a mission and an ally all along framed his earlier behavior as an impressive façade true to his character rather than awestruck wallowing. And Helen was revealed to be Andi right after she was shot, so the entire second half of the movie, the audience is under the belief that Helen is dead. Personally, I felt like Andi was a mysterious character in the first act, but not too sympathetic. I felt a little bad for her being treated the way she was by the Disruptors, but I felt like she hid her feelings too much for me to really sympathize. But Helen is immediately characterized with a lot more emotion when she’s introduced. She’s filled with grief at her sister’s death, she wants justice, she has understandable fear risking her life by going to the island, but she also has the courage to go anyway (a sentiment that’s immediately framed as tragic but admirable seeing as we just saw her get shot) and she also becomes bold at several points in the story when she drinks. All of these emotions make Helen feel more nuanced and likable than she was during the first act, and it makes her supposed death feel more devastating. So when it was finally revealed that the bullet didn’t kill her, I felt intense relief (and seeing them use the hot sauce as fake blood and to fake Blanc’s tears was just too funny to me.) And even looking past all the twists, I think the story still has potent themes of gathering courage to stand up to those that benefit but ultimately oppress you and exploit others for their own benefit. (Andi stood up against Miles when he wanted to get rich off of a dangerous power source, but the other disruptors were too afraid of losing him as an ally/resource to go against him, and the movie ends with them finally willing to stop depending on him and speak out against him. And Helen, a character who started out meek but became bold, helped inspire that change.) And personally, I liked that this movie felt more like a mystery. I love Knives Out, but until the blackmailer was introduced near the end, it felt more like a crime thriller than a mystery for most of the runtime to me, which was a little disappointing on my first watch. So I was happy that this movie at least had a mystery I could think about while watching the whole runtime, even if the culprit was somewhat predictable. And even then, that did fit with the metaphor of the Glass Onion, so I thought it was appropriate.

@senorPachuChay

Жыл бұрын

YESS! I literally jumped out of my couch cheering when it was revealed Helen was still alive! Most memorable movie reaction experiences I had in a looong time! Also follows Rian Johnson's ethos of infusing his whodunits with Hitchcockian suspense! 😀

Fantastic analysis of Glass Onion.

Your channel is a wealth of information for mystery writers, Thank you for your content. I'm not saying I disagree but, I found a lot of reviews I watched really liked Glass Onion. This in no way changes your conclusions lol.

@janekalmes

Жыл бұрын

Fair enough! Since I made the video, I've been seeing more people come out with positive thoughts about the movie.

Fantastic content and editing! (And informative.)

Super useful breakdown, thanks!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

(Gasp!) "Of course!" Haha, that is a perfect plot twist!

You make a good point, but I am not sure I completely agree with the premise that plot twists have to be foreshadowed. If the movie were to rely entirely on the twist alone (e.g. like "Fight Club"), then I would agree. But I don't think "Glass Onion" fits into this category. If the plot twist was central to the mystery, the reveal would occur towards the end of the story, not midway through it. Instead it looks to me like "Glass Onion" just uses that twist as a narrative device to move the story forward by retelling it with a different view point. In a sense it serves the same role as the follow-up murders in "Death on the Nile" (see your video titled "The Simplest Plotting Trick I’ve Ever Found"). Those are not foreshadowed either, and yet they are twists. What this plot device also does though is separate "Glass Onion" into two halves with the first focusing on the murders, and the second on the reason behind them. And when you consider that first half makes the identity of the killer immediately obvious while the second half straight out gives the motive, there just is not much for the viewer to figure out. And I think this is where issue lies. Maybe this structure would have worked out better if the murder was actually puzzling? In the end "Glass Onion" is just not a deep mystery. "Knives Out" is better overall but it also has more plot holes, so it's not like it's perfect either.

Wait, wait. Plot twists don't have to happen at the end. I enjoyed onion more.

Finally! Someone who agrees with me! lol I'm not alone!

Great video, I knew who the killer would be from the first scene with that character on the beach.

@janekalmes

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I feel like the only reason it could have surprised anyone is because the script worked very hard to have Blanc ignore the possibility of Miles being the killer. I had him in my crosshairs pretty much throughout.

loved the thumb

02:08 No. The shift is from "Miles is a target" to "Miles is the killer" ALONG WITH the shift from "Miles is an evil genius" to "Miles is a ruthless idiot." 03:29 There were plenty of clues about that twist, but they are very subtle and easy to mix. In fact, there are more clues in GO than in KO. But that is inherent in the structure of the stories being told. The former is not the same kind of mystery.

Well to be fare, every single mystery author or mystery show has done a “Intended Victim’s the Murderer” at least *ONCE!* I mean, I solved it the minute the reveal that Duke “accidentally” drank Miles’ glass

I would say that Glass Onion, in spite of having mystery elements, isn't actually a mystery. I see it as something closer to a thriller or a low-key adventure movie.

I’m curious to know what are your thoughts on Poker Face? (Rian Johnson’s new detective TV show) I absolutely love it.

The hat is a smoking hat, it's designed to keep your hair from absorbing the smell of tobacco smoke. It is the appropriate hat to wear while smoking a cigar. Normally it's paired with a matching smoking jacket, which he obviously can't wear in the bathtub.

Loved this! Very helpful in understanding my thoughts about the film!

@janekalmes

Жыл бұрын

Awesome, that is exactly what I’m always trying to do when I’m writing these things: take our feelings and instincts about mysteries and clarify them into words-so that people can understand how to write in the genre. So glad it landed for you!

Aside from all your great reviews and insights, THANK YOU for putting all the //////// in front of "show more". Ever since youtube changed the location of the "show more" it's difficult to find it quickly and hit it. You seem to have solved the problem! You get the awesome sauce award!. Well, close enough, anyway.😆

Yeah I felt something was off with the second movie, all the plot points make sense and are hinted at in the first one, but in the second one things are seemingly intentionally hidden from us in several scenes just to have a big reveal later and it’s not as interesting.

I love that you made a video about these two movies!! I just finished watching Glass Onion, so you're timing was perfect! Knives Out: Absolutely glued to my seat Glass Onion: It took several attempts to get through it all, so I probably watched ACT 1 three times. Glass Onion was enjoyable enough, but I agree that the twin twist was not satisfying at all. Once the twist hit, though, the story was much more interesting. I wish that twist came earlier so the beginning hadn't been so drawn out.

Although I really enjoyed this one, I agree with the weak twists and unsatisfying villain reveal. The first movie was my fav.

I wasn't gripped by Glass Onion. I felt the characters were caricatures and I didn't care about any of them. The film borrowed ideas from Agatha Christie (such as the impersonation from After the Funeral or the corpse that isn't dead from And Then There Were None) but I think it lacked Christie's deftness with clues. For me, the mark of a good film is that I'm happy to watch it more than once (just as I'm happy to read a good book more than once). I won't be watching Glass onion again.

Brilliant! Explaining the Glass Onion twin thing really DID pinpoint the moment it fell apart for me. I feel like writers dont want to put those clues that lead to synthesis as they dont want readers / viewers to guess the twist. But I prefer a twist that I can guess because it reaches a logical conclusion than a twist that's grandfathered in and leaves me scratching my head.

@janekalmes

Жыл бұрын

You took the words right out of my mouth! I’ve been wandering around all day dreaming up up some content where I’d explain why completely blindsiding your readers is actually worse than letting them guess your twist!

You're the best!!!!

I wouldn't say the second one was disappointing. It just wasn't as good. It focused on the twists and not so much characters. It lacked the emotional commitment of the first film, gave us no insight to the detective and though Janelle Monae is a great actress the writers did not give her the emotional hook she deserved. Admittedly because of the twist, Where as in the first movie the twist added to the emotional hook.

weird, i felt the exact opposite, but it was probably just i liked the cast in the sequel a lot better. or more accurately, i disliked the cast from the first more.

I haven't heard any negative reviews of Glass Onion... In fact I wasn't even planning to watch the movie until I saw that everyone was saying how good it is. Interesting 🤔 Now I'm rethinking this lol

@janekalmes

Жыл бұрын

Well, I’m not saying there’s nothing fun about the film. If you do watch it, I hope you enjoy it!

I had an issue with the story, but I couldn't pin down what that was.... now I do. LOL

Both were awful mysteries, but Knives Out was more interesting. We have no clues about Ransom's scheme. It comes out of nowhere. Both films are really a drama of three characters and the rest aren't every plausible suspects. They're really badly structured. Look at Glass Onion, we just take Helen at face value. Why can't she be a liar? Why do we trust her? Awful writing all around.

PS you need to warn people up front about spoilers. This is the second time your video would have spoiled a story for an audience not familiar with the stories you are talking about.

@Ashley-ew7dp

Жыл бұрын

How would she have explained it without a spoiler? If I see any videos comparing one movie to another then I know there's going to be spoilers...

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