A Mystery for the Ages

The “Knives Out” series features in-depth stories and mysteries that keep the viewer guessing

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Photo courtesy hollywoodreporter.com

The cast of “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” poses at the movie’s premiere.

George Proctor, Opinion/Editorial Editor

Cinema has evolved throughout history, developing countless new genres for viewers to explore. While these new genres of movies continue expanding, age-old movie ideas remain prevalent today, adapting to the new age’s unique and fresh ideas while retaining their charm that it initially held. This notion stands especially true for the genre of mystery, with countless new movies and series filled with the timeless characteristics that viewers have grown to love while adding modern twists.

Upon its release in 2019, “Knives Out” took the world by storm for its compelling story featuring a mystery like no other. The mystery is presented in a nonlinear fashion, only presenting the viewer with bits and pieces of the truth at a time. The story features countless tiny details, requiring re-watch upon re-watch to see them all.

Marlee Allen (11) enjoyed the film and found that the twists throughout the storyline kept her intrigued from start to finish.

“I really liked how the story was told from the perspective of the main character, so I was discovering things the same way she was,” Allen said.

More than three years after the blockbuster’s initial release, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” premiered in cinemas as a standalone sequel to the initial film. The film follows Benoit Blanc, the lead detective, holding remarkable skills of investigation. Blanc is put in charge of unraveling a great mystery, just as he did in the first movie of the series. The mystery of this film is presented in a similar manner as the first, with key pieces of information being presented to the audience through jumps in time to important events.

Lillian Delaney (11) preferred the sequel to the original movie due to her finding its overall mystery to be more compelling.

“I enjoyed the first movie a lot when it initially released, but I would definitely say that I like the second movie a bit more,” Delaney said. “The storyline was presented in a way that I found to be more interesting.”

During the sequel’s filming, the issue of the Coronavirus pandemic was still prevalent, leaving the world unsure of how to handle the situation in film and TV. The movie took a unique approach to this issue in integrating the virus into the storyline, putting the main characters on a private island with one another as an escape from the rest of the world as well as the virus. Characters are even initially shown wearing masks before receiving a formula that granted immunization to characters.

Lillie Henson (10) enjoyed the first movie more than the second because of its style of storytelling and suspense.

“The mystery in the sequel was a bit easier to figure out than in “Knives Out.” I thought that it was pretty obvious from the start who the killer was,” Henson said.