Movie Review: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is a testament to Rian Johnson and his skills as a writer and director. It’s another thrilling and expertly crafted mystery from Johnson that, despite being the third entry in a franchise that’s only been around for six years, feels fresh and new. It marks the return of our charismatic and quirky detective Benoit Blanc while also delving into a darker world and asking bigger questions. The result is one of the best and most fun movies of the year.

Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, superb as always) does not say a word in Wake Up Dead Man until nearly 40 minutes into the film, much later than the previous two Knives Out films. The movie starts with Blanc reading a letter of some kind. We hear the voice-over of Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) as he tells us the story of the Black Friday Murder. Jud Duplenticy is relatively new to the world of priesthood, following a stint as a boxer where he accidentally killed a man in the ring and found religion to cope with his guilt. After punching a fellow priest in the nose, Father Duplenticy is sent to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a church led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin).

Monsignor Wicks has a strangle hold on his church and the people who attend it, especially a small group of his most loyal followers: his do-all church employee, Martha (Glenn Close), Dr. Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), a local doctor who turned to alcohol after his wife left him, Vera Draven, Esq (Kerry Washington), a local attorney, and her adoptive son Cy (Daryl McCormak), Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), a washed up writer, Simone Vivane (Cailey Spaeny), a former concert cellist confined to a wheel chair with a rare muscular condition, and Samson Holt (Thomas Hayden Church), the church’s groundskeeper. Father Duplenticy quickly realizes that nothing is what it seems at the church, especially when one member is murdered. Benoit Blanc and local Chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) come to work on the case.

Johnson once again perfectly constructs a spellbinding murder mystery. He gives us the suspects, builds out their personalities, gives them all reasons as to why they would want to murder the victim, and sets the whole event in a cool location, this time an old church with a dark past in upstate New York. What unfolds throughout Wake Up Dead Man is nothing short of exhilarating fun. The plot is carefully constructed, filled with moments of shock, suspense, and never-ending twists. When we think we are getting somewhere, Johnson quietly chuckles in our faces and pulls out a new revelation that brings us three steps back. The setting becomes eerier as the mystery goes on, especially when paranormal events start to occur during a rainstorm. The dialog is quick, witty, and smart, and each character is interesting and portrayed marvelously by Johnson’s most stacked ensemble yet. O’Connor is superb as our lead priest and works perfectly with Craig’s Blanc, who is once again a delight. Brolin gives a powerhouse turn as Wicks, and Glenn Close delivers an awards-caliber performance as Martha, completely owning the last third of the film.

Johnson’s screenplay dives deep into modern religion, a topic that could very easily be looked at through a cynical eye, regardless of your opinion. But there is nothing cynical about Johnson’s approach. He looks at all sides of modern Catholicism, from the devout ones who go to church every Sunday and believe in its miracle power to the ones who use it for political or societal gain, to those who use it as a source to help them with sadness, loneliness, and anger, and those who don’t believe in it at all. He never pokes fun at religious believers and doesn’t make those who don’t believe rude or misanthropic. Johnson walks a tight rope on a touchy subject with care and ease.

Wake Up Dead Man is Johnson’s most complex mystery yet. It’s got big ideas and an even bigger cast, and Johnson controls it like the master and gives us another exciting murder mystery, and one of the best movies of 2025.

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