“Knives in the Back: The Mystery of the Glass Onion”: Why Rian Johnson Doesn’t Like the Film’s Title

Just released on Netflix ‘Stabs in the Back: The Glass Onion Mystery’ sequel to ‘Stabs in the Back’, in which Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has to solve a new murder. Like its predecessor, The person in charge of directing and writing this film is Rian Johnson, a filmmaker who has shared one of his biggest bad feelings about his most recent creation. It is, neither more nor less, than the title it receives Or, to be exact, part of it.

Despite being a sequel, being a completely new investigation and having no connection with that of the previous project, ‘The Mystery of the Glass Onion’ can be seen as an independent and separate film from ‘Daggers in the Back’, being the only common element of both detective Benoit Blanc. Since you can enjoy ‘Glass Onion’ without seeing the first one, Johnson revealed in an interview with The Atlantic that he wanted to remove the ‘Backstabbing’ part from the title: “I worked really hard to make (both movies) standalone. Honestly, it pisses me off that ‘Backstabs’ is in the title. I just want it to be called ‘Glass Onion.’ I understand and want everyone who enjoyed the first film to know that this is next in the series, but also what I feel is that this is a new novel that you can grab off the shelf. But there’s a gravity of a thousand suns that pushes toward serialized storytelling.”

Problems aside for Johnson, what doesn’t faze him at all is how well ‘Glass Onion’ is doing, which at the top of the list of the ten most popular Netflix movies of the moment both in the United States and in our country. The great reception it is receiving is not a surprise when you take into account the figures generated by the first installment. ‘Punch in the Back’ collected $300 billion at the international box office and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Screenplay category. Aware of the success that this saga can gather, Netflix has moved to be able to release a second part, ‘Glass Onion’, and also a third which is still in the very early stages of development: “I still have to start writing ‘Puñales por el espalda 3’, I have to find out what is the next Benoit Blanc mystery, what is it called, where is it set. So I have a lot of work to do, I don’t want to set a deadline yet because I wouldn’t meet it.”Johnson said a month ago in an interview with Comicbook.

Among the good numbers of both episodes, the good reception from both the general public and specialized critics and the freedom not to be tied to a continuity that is more difficult to follow after each episode. They completely open the door for the saga to continue and solidify itself as a major mystery franchise for years to come.

there is always a but

Although ‘Glass Onion’ is liked in general, there is one aspect that does not seem to have completely convinced part of the public. The problem they have is that the story is set during the pandemic that we have experienced outside of fiction, reflected in the film in a scene where we see masks and through the comments of some characters. As they stated on social networks, they consider it useless, which contributes nothing and even makes the film worse, but Kate Hudson, who plays Birdie Jay in “Puñales 2,” explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that, contrary to what these people think, placing the plot in the pandemic is a good way to delve into the characters, in particular, by the way they wore the mask: “We have Lionel (the scientist) wearing a double mask, I (Birdie Jay) wearing a lace or mesh one, Claire has it hung under her nose, and Benoit Blanc has a very elegant, skintight mask.”

‘Knives in the Back: The Mystery of the Glass Onion’ is Available on Netflix.