Daniel Craig seemed like he would be a sleek or hard-boiled detective, before bringing his Texan-accented fun Benoit Blanc to life. Edward Norton, notoriously difficult to work with, was the perfect self-aware choice for unlikeable Elon-a-like Miles. Janelle Monae is the multifaceted actual protagonist Andi, Dave Bautista as the dumb muscle streamer, Kathryn Hahn as the career woman politician; all of which they were brilliantly cast.

This snapshot moment that Glass Onion is set in, paired with the celebrity version of the closed room mystery, gives this film a much more satirical aspect. The humour and genre keep it light, but there's some razor sharp critique and well-deserved mockery of both certain famous people and their entire out-of-touch celebrity world. The ending, combining the murderer's comeuppance and some political justice, gives the audience a strong gleeful feeling of vengeance and schadenfreude.

However, this isn't just a good murder mystery and satire, it's a really good film. Full use is made of flashbacks, either revealing a more detailed or alternative view of a previous scene or giving you a chance to rewatch a moment with the perspective of new information. Blanc's talk through of the murder is shown, masterfully, with different characters as murderer in each shot. The changed scenes are especially brilliant, the time equivalent of a zoom in on something. Foreshadowing hangs deliberately and obviously in multiple places, keeping the tension high with a "but which of those is it?" for the observant. Things that don't quite seem right are revealed as deliberate clues and as red herrings.

A talented and worthy sequel to the first Knives Out, Glass Onion is an exciting and enjoyable caper. If a third Knives Out is made, and it's as good as this, it could be an iconic series.

The plot is mostly linear, with occasional and clear flashback scenes, and takes place over a couple of days in one large room. The mysterious back stories, goals and even identities of the characters all build into the larger mystery as the one-room mystery meets gritty western. You know less than the main characters and piece things together slowly, suspecting them themselves as much as you follow their suspicion of others. Every small plot twist is sudden and unexpected, but reveals much about the previous events.

By the end of the film you'll be arguing with yourself about which characters are the real hateful eight - by the start of the main plot there are nine characters present, for one thing. No character is particularly likable, except some minor characters in flashbacks, but this film teeters between having a wholly hateful cast and justifying or minimising the hatefulness of some. Easily defined characters are not what Hateful is really going for, despite it's title, and the nuance of their hatefulness makes each character believable and intriguing.

If you're a diehard Tarantino fan, or watching because you admire his individual style, this isn't going to be your favourite of his films, but it is a great film. It's quite the filmography to live up to, and it deserves it's place. Seeing a Tarantino film in the cinema was a personal goal, having a blood phobia as I do, but the violence might mean this is better suited for home viewing.

The interesting part comes in it's three settings of the kidnapping location, the film studio and the in-film scenes. The way the acting and action changes between real and fake are clear, but the changes in lighting, such as the colour, shadows and tone, give the visual 'feel' a noticeable difference. It's easy to tell when scenes on film sets are being seen by the characters and when they're being seen through the studio's cameras.

The contrast between real and fiction in the studio sits next to the contrast between the studio and the kidnapping setting, too. While some things are perfect comparisons, such as a dark outside night kidnapper scene and an overly well lit nighttime film scene, some are amusingly matching. Some characters are as 2D and predictable as you might think, and then at the same time three dimensional and surprisingly complex.

Just as the film doesn't have unneeded sex or violence, as the first ever Coen Brothers film where no one at all dies, it has a sense of whimsy and a gentle sense of humour. That moment in the trailer with the pronunciation of "oh that it were so simple"? Part of a long scene of funny failures and frustration, playing out slowly and surely.

Altogether, Hail, Caesar! is great as a comedy and as a mystery, and a great addition to the filmography of everyone involved. Anyone can watch it and probably should.