Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, 2025.
Directed by Rian Johnson.
Starring Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
SYNOPSIS:
Detective Benoit Blanc sifts through a series of suspects when a monsignor turns up dead.
At this point in Rian Johnson’s career, the only mystery he didn’t want to solve was Rey’s lineage (said with love for TLJ). He has been operating in the darker recesses of the whodunnit since 2005’s neo-noir classic Brick, and only really stepped away for the sun-kissed chaos of Glass Onion, which tied itself up in knots to the point of disinterest.
Thankfully he’s returned to a single location setting that served him so well with Benoit Blanc’s first case in 2019, which lest we forget was released into cinemas to the tune of over $300 million worldwide. I digress, but it’s an important point to make with a film like Knives Out and even more so with Wake Up Dead Man, because these movies play gangbusters with an audience. They’re a shared experience of laughs and gasps that fuel the breadcrumb trail and internal guessing game, imbuing the film with a sense of fun that while intrinsically linked to the quality of Rian Johnson’s work, is embellished by seeing it on the big screen. Anyway, I went a bit Benoit Blanc there, back to the case at hand.
Said location is a regional Church in New York, where we find the recently ensconced Father Jud (Josh O’Connor), who has been sent there for allowing his past as a boxer to manifest itself in the form of a right-hook to the face of a rather irritating member of the clergy. As his own narration informs us, he is “young, dumb, and full of Christ”, which might not sit well with a congregation made up of a rather peculiar and particular members.
At the head of proceedings, all fire and bombast, is Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a preacher with a propensity for cruelty, so it’s no surprise that he becomes the titular dead man. Worshipping at his feet is Glenn’s Close’s God-fearing Martha, Jeremy Renner’s local doctor, Andrew Scott’s author come below-the-line YouTuber, Kerry Washington’s high-powered attorney, Daryl McCormack’s morally bankrupt influencer, and Cailee Spaeny’s vulnerable violinist seeking a miracle. It’s a veritable mirror-to-the-world line-up of people fawning over someone in a position of power, against their better instincts or down to inherent stupidity. You do the math.
It’s a line-up of suspects that allows for some wonderful cast interaction, but perhaps learning from the overcrowded events of Glass Onion, Johnson focuses on a core group, meaning that the likes of Renner and Spaeny are given very little to do beyond being pawns to accompany voiceover.
The focus here is firmly on Josh O’Connor, who elevates Wake Up Dead Man with a performance of self assuredness and charm, so much so that the film quickly becomes less about solving the murder, and more about his own relationship with faith or lack thereof. It’s testament to the Challengers star and his grip on the material that by the time Daniel Craig shows up you’ve almost forgotten that Benoit Blanc was in it. However, not only is Craig’s arrival welcome, but the two compliment each other terrifically with theological discussions and easy chemistry that buoy Wake Up Dead Man from it’s much darker tone.
While we’re on Blanc’s arrival, it’s worth noting that his entrance is framed by a stunning shadow on the wall shot. I mention this because the use of light throughout the movie is transcendental. To accentuate monologues, to accompany epiphanies, the infer mood. Craig performs a mild diatribe on religion that’s powerful enough, but it’s cradled in oscillating light and shade that’s simply beautiful to behold.
Despite being more macabre than previous outings, Johnson’s script contains plenty of his signature laughs. There’s the thinly veiled satirical comedy of poking fun at conspiracy nuts or hollow-headed social media influencers, a hilarious confessional sequence involving Josh Brolin and onanism, and there’s even a goofy Star Wars gag thrown in. There are so many moving parts on display, and this time Johnson has a tighter rein on them.
Wake Up Dead Man is a huge improvement on Glass Onion, and perhaps the best of the series, and even if it does go a little “Scooby Dooby Doo” with its mystery, the intrigue remains in watching another stunning showcase for the talents of Josh O’Connor. Damascus indeed.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film ★ ★ ★ ★/ Movie ★ ★ ★ ★
Matt Rodgers – Follow me on Twitter
