The most reassuring thing about "Glass Onion," Rian Johnson's superb follow-up to "Knives Out," is that it's subtitled "A Knives Out Mystery." Johnson's first Benoit Blanc film felt like lightning in a bottle, a non-ip movie with a big, star-studded cast that produced blockbuster box-office numbers. Even better, it was brilliant. Movies like "Knives Out" don't come around very often, although with "Glass Onion" vaulting over the lofty bar set by its predecessor, it sort of feels like they might.

In reality, a number of intimate murder mysteries have been released in the three years since "Knives Out" hit theaters. Some are classically lavish; others are quirky and comedic. Like "Knives Out," however, each one feels like a nod to Hollywood history, which is full of classic mystery films. Every one should satiate a viewer whose appetite has been whetted for tricky cases and singular detectives. So, while there...