I'm being snarky. I'm not really trying to start an argument, but "he could've stopped after the first one" annoys me as a statement, like saying a band should've stopped after their debut or a TV show should've ended after Season 1. It's a wholly negative take that doesn't offer any insight and ignores that a lot of other people are getting enjoyment out of the thing in question. It irks me.
So? I couldn’t care less if it irks you. I think the first movie is good and it’s been diminishing returns since then. It’s a completely valid opinion. For the record, I also think there are tv shows that should have stopped after season 1 and bands that went downhill after their first album. Get your fainting couch ready.
Overall, I’m happy it exists and that a big movie’s message is about compassionate faith versus weaponized faith and it’s done pretty well, is entertaining and has some kind of nuance when it comes to the topic, even if Johnson paints with the broadest brush when it comes to MAGA characters. That kind of subject is something you’d, at best, get from a studio like Focus Features, it would have two minor stars, five people would see it and it would have two comments in a thread on here. Instead, it’s the second sequel in a big franchise. But I also agree that I hope Johnson does something original soon.
I get what you mean by this, but there's still something funny about wishing he'd do something original when this is all original, it's his franchise that he made.
Hahaha. True! I guess I mean non-sequel/IP. But if he just did original stuff that Blanc showed up in, I would not complain.
The phrasing of this has me imagining a movie from Rian that’s ostensibly a separate standalone film, but then Blanc has a conspicuous cameo towards the end or in the credits.
This rocked but I am so squarely the target audience for these. I’d watch one per year the rest of my life and never have a single complaint.
This is the best one of these in a walk and imo the only one that gives you something to actually chew on once the movie is over. Josh O'Connor handily the best performance in any of these movies
This one was good. Definitely better than Glass Onion, but it doesn’t quite reach the same level as Knives Out. The characters are once again pretty fun, though I think Renner’s and sadly Scotts characters were kind of a nothing burger for me. The pacing is a little clunky. I think there’s a version of this that’s 10-20 minutes shorter which would have worked better. Johnson pulled back from some of the more on the nose dialogue compared to Glass Onion, but there’s still moments here where a little more subtly would have been appreciated. Those are my mostly surface level gripes. All that said, I really enjoyed its exploration of religion, those who co-opt it for greed, and even the nature of redemption. The scene where Father Jud and Benoit Blanc meet is probably my favorite from these films whole film. I’d say this feels the most formulaic in whodunnit structure of these movies, but the most interesting thematically.
The problem with subtlety is you run the risk of the people you're trying to reach not getting the message.