Great Whodunits To Watch Before 'Glass Onion'

Let's investigate some of our favorite mysteries as the Knives Out sequel hits theaters

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Nov 25, 2022

Hey DYLAers, hope you had a killer Thanksgiving! The whodunit has made a bit of a comeback in the last few years due to Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie adaptations, this year’s See How They Run, and Knives Out, which has a sequel titled Glass Onion out in theaters this week (for one week only before coming to Netflix around Christmas). We’re always willing to fire up a good whodunit, so here are a couple we love, even if you might not immediately think of them as such.

Billy recommends…

The Fugitive

Harrison Ford is Dr. Richard Kimble and has been accused of the murder of his wife and Tommy Lee Jones is Deputy Sam Gerard, the man tracking him down after Kimble escapes. This is not your traditional whodunit where the mystery is held throughout most of the runtime. Kimble pretty early on finds out who killed his wife, but the whole plot is him trying to stall for as long as possible until he finds enough evidence to prove his innocence.

I’m always amazed at movies like The Fugitive because it makes the audience one step ahead of all of our characters. Creating a tension throughout the whole runtime that is unmatched in most whodunits. While Harrison Ford is the star that carries us through the whole runtime, it is Tommy Lee Jones who steals the entire movie. His relentless pursuit of Kimble despite his concerns of the legitimacy of the charge is thrilling. And it all culminates in the “I don’t care” exclamation in response to Kimble’s innocence.

Whodunit movies are normally a culmination of a mystery ending with a massive twist that reveals the truth all at once. In The Fugitive the mystery is slowly stripped away while the intensity of the chase only increases. Allowing the audience to scream at the screen hoping that Jones eventually lets down his relentless pursuit for Kimble. Ford and Jones are the perfect cat and mouse duo. Two actors trying to transition their careers into a different phase and The Fugitive was a perfect bridge. An action thriller that is fairly light on the action despite one absolutely mesmerizing train crash and relies on the powerhouse presence of both actors.

Streaming on Hulu

Drew recommends…

Brick

Long before he created master detective Benoit Blanc for the Knives Out franchise, filmmaker Rian Johnson showed off his noir mystery chops on his first film Brick in 2006. With a tiny budget and heavy influence from hardboiled detective fiction, Johnson transferred the cynical dialogue and labyrinth plotting of a Dashiell Hammett novel to a modern California high school. After an award at Sundance and positive reviews, he was well on his way to a career directing Breaking Bad, Star Wars, and reviving the whodunit genre.

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brick centers on his character Brendan, who begins to investigate his ex-girlfriend’s disappearance. The mystery unfolds as Brendan meets shady new characters to get to the bottom of what happened. Like any good whodunit, you think the film is going one way before it doubles back on you in an instant. Even though he made Brick around age 30, Rian Johnson was so clearly adept at telling stories this way.

Much like Knives Out, Brick is set in a heightened world much more clever than our own. If you can adjust to teenagers talking like gritty, seen-it-all 1930s detectives, there is a lot to love here in the dialogue and performances. Risky modern noirs are not supposed to sing like Brick does, especially one from a first-time director. You come for the mystery but you stay for the confident style.

Streaming on STARZ