Review: 'Glass Onion' brings back Daniel Craig's Southern-fried detective for more murderous adventures with the super-rich

There is a hard limit to what I’ll be able to write about “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” because much of the fun and thrill of director Rian Johnson’s murder mystery — a follow-up to his wildly inventive 2019 movie “Knives Out” — comes in not knowing too much at the outset.

Here’s what I can tell you about the set-up: Once again, the renowned detective Benoit Blanc — played with self-deprecating charm by Daniel Craig — finds himself amid a group of very rich people who eye each other with a mix of suspicion and scorn. In this case, he travels to Greece, where tech billionaire Miles Bron (played by Edward Norton) has summoned his old friends and frenemies for a weekend at his secluded island mansion.

The guest list is as follows:

• Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), movie star and party animal.

• Peg (Jessica Henwick), Birdie’s frazzled assistant.

• Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), a rising political candidate.

• Duke Cody (Dave Bautista), men’s-rights activist and YouTube influencer.

• Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), Duke’s girlfriend and social-media co-star.

• Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), scientist employed by Miles.

• Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), Miles’ former business partner.

Andi’s arrival surprises the others, for reasons that become clear early in the story. And Benoit Blanc’s arrival surprises the host, who rolls with it. Miles has promised a murder for his guests to solve this weekend, and a murder does indeed happen — though not the way anyone anticipates.

That’s about as much as the movie’s trailer reveals, and as much plot information as I’m willing to divulge. Suffice it to say that Johnson, as writer and director, provides plenty of twists to keep everyone — on the screen and in the audience — guessing about how it’s all going to play out.

Johnson’s plotting, and the dispensing of information about the characters and the crime, is as intricate and as clever as in “Knives Out.” What’s different is an added layer of comedy, mostly provided by the continued exploration of Blanc, who has been moody and out of sorts during the COVID-19 pandemic without a good mystery to test his wits. (His circle of Zoom friends is just the first course of the movie’s jaw-dropping cameos.)

Craig is delightfully droll here, whether observing his fellow guests or declaring his disdain for the board game Clue. (Again, it’s in the trailer.) And the ensemble cast of suspects — particularly Hudson and Monáe — generate plenty of sparks leading up to a remarkable ending.

And, as “Knives Out” did, “Glass Onion” allows Johnson to deliver some sharp commentary on the petty motivations of the disgustingly wealthy — and does so more entertainingly and less arrogantly than “The Menu” or “Triangle of Sadness,” two recent dark comedies that mock the stinking rich. Class warfare has seldom been so fun.

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‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, November 23, in theaters for one week, then streaming starting Dec. 23 on Netflix. Rated R for strong language, some violence, sexual material and drug content. Running time: 139 minutes.