Glass Onion Brought Back Another Knives Out Cast Member You May Have Missed
"Knives Out" is one of the best movies of the past decade. There, I said it. The film has some very cool and inventive visuals, is brilliantly written by Rian Johnson, with plenty of memorable twists and jokes, a very memorable sweater, and an exquisite ensemble cast you just want to follow for hours on end. Not only is Daniel Craig endlessly watchable, hilarious, and charismatic as the mysterious Benoit Blanc, but the rest of the cast is quite memorable, both in terms of the main characters but also the cameos.
Now, Rian Johnson does it again with "Glass Onion," a movie that is bigger and better in virtually every way. As our own review called it, "'Glass Onion' is loaded with huge belly-laugh moments and the types of ultra-clever jokes that will make you want to cheer." Indeed, the film is bolder, it has something to say about class warfare, it is hilarious and smartly written, with plenty of twists and turns that are hard to predict even to the producers. It is also the only pandemic-era film to recognize the impact of "Among Us" in bringing us together.
Like its predecessor, "Glass Onion" has an excellent ensemble cast, from the main list of suspects you love to see get in trouble, to the delightful cameos both big and small. While the film is completely standalone, with not a single reference to the previous case (though there are references to other unseen Benoit Blanc cases), there is one surprise returning cast member. No, we're not talking about Daniel Craig.
A deadly vacation
In "Glass Onion," we find Benoit Blanc taking a new case, this time on a remote island in Greece — as dictated by the grand tradition of destination murders like "The Last of Sheila" and "Murder in the Nile." The case involves a murder mystery party organized by Miles (a billionaire played by Edward Norton) for his rich friends, which ends up having a real murder. Like "Knives Out," Johnson uses the script to comment on class, this time focusing on the lengths people go to cling to wealth.
Though the film features several surprising cameos, the best one comes the moment the gallery of suspects (and Blanc) arrive at the remote island. While Miles gives a grand speech about how this is meant to be an intimate getaway reunion for his closest friends (and Blanc), a random dude named Derol walks on screen. Miles tells the others not to mind this guy, he is just a friend crashing at his guest house.
Though a bit hard to recognize under the hair and makeup, you might recognize him as Noah Segan, who has played a role in every single movie directed by Rian Johnson. In "Knives Out," Segan played the overly enthusiastic cop and notorious Benoit Blanc stan, Trooper Wagner.
Be more like Derol
Honestly, in a movie all about watching famous actors chilling in a big mansion on a remote Mediterranean island, Segan feels like the one having the most fun. Sure, Kate Hudson's fashionista with a problematic social media presence is delightful to watch, and Dave Bautista as a toxic streamer who carries a gun everywhere — even a pool — is hilarious. However, there is something about Segan's chaotic timing as he cuts the punchline to a joke, or undermines an important and emotional speech just by walking into frame in the most uncomfortable and disruptive way possible that is absolutely hysterical.
This is a movie about rich people who do terrible things because they're afraid of being cut off by their wealthy benefactor, but that is not Segan's Derol. He is just here to relax, spend his pandemic on a remote island drinking and smoking, getting over a bad breakup without meddling in the murderous parts of the story, just having a ball and drinking margaritas by the beach with Benoit Blanc. Murder mysteries, especially ones written by Agatha Christie, are all about archetypes of the worst kind of people in society, the high-class snobs and rich jerks. Johnson is continuing that trend but updating it for the modern era, with tech billionaires, streamers and influences replacing the colonels, heiresses and other archetypes. But in a film full of the worst people, Derol shows a better way. Honestly, we should all aspire to be a little more like Derol.