Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Review

This reappraisal is based connected a screening which took spot astatine the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery volition beryllium released successful prime theaters connected November 26 and connected Netflix connected December 12.

After a little sojourn successful a postulation far, acold away, acclaimed manager Rian Johnson has spent the past 8 years moving connected the macabre misadventures of Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc. As a Netflix film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery volition get a constricted theatrical release, but it volition yet beryllium seen by astir audiences connected the tiny screen. That’s a shame, since it looks large and would apt spell implicit good arsenic a precocious autumn crowdpleaser. It’s besides the archetypal movie successful the bid that’s a straightforward execution enigma alternatively of a subversion of one, which winds up being the film’s champion attribute.

The movie starts disconnected not with Blanc, but with our functional main character: Reverend Jud Duplencity (Josh O’Connor), a down-on-his-luck young clergyman assigned to assistance a small, insular parish led by the domineering Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Wicks is an elder firebrand who keeps his tiny radical of churchgoing regulars successful cheque with rants and deceit, starring Jud to instrumentality nary tiny umbrage with the man. But when, aft a sermon, Wicks collapses with a leaf successful his back, determination is nary evident mode for idiosyncratic to person killed him, adjacent though each eyes autumn connected Jud for having the astir evident motive. Enter Craig’s Benoit Blanc, who finds what mightiness conscionable beryllium his astir perplexing lawsuit yet.

As a wide protagonist of Johnson’s films who was severely disappointed successful the 2nd movie successful this series, Glass Onion, it’s bully to spot the manager backmost successful beardown signifier with Wake Up Dead Man. It doesn’t bushed Knives Out for affectional resonance – O’Connor’s layered but understated crook arsenic Jud doesn’t rather make the aforesaid magnitude of pathos arsenic Ana de Armas’ Marta did successful the archetypal film, but gets adjacent – but it does upwind up being the champion mystery of the bunch. The reply present is not evident and the method of however the sidesplitting and consequent machinations were achieved is really inventive. And portion not each crippled bushed oregon enactment of dialog is perfectly executed, Johnson’s bid of his directorial benignant is arsenic susceptible arsenic it’s ever been.

This is particularly existent of the film’s visuals. Johnson’s films, each of which person been photographed by long-time collaborator Steve Yedlin, ever look fantastic, and Wake Up Dead Man is nary exception. Although the selling whitethorn person oversold the film’s alleged “Gothic” influence, which amounts to nary much than 2 oregon 3 standout moments, the earthy, green-brown colour palette and usage of lighting and framing conjures a genuinely cozy ambiance successful its aboriginal segments. This makes the darker turns aboriginal connected consciousness similar an penetration of a sanctified space, and since the movie is astir a tiny religion unravelling aft the decease of their pastor, it’s a potent parallel.

Yet if Wake Up Dead Man is simply a stronger movie than its predecessor successful presumption of plot, it shares the aforesaid weaknesses successful presumption of character. Craig is arsenic watchable arsenic he’s ever been and some O’Connor and Brolin bash their jobs admirably, but similar with erstwhile Blanc films, Johnson stuffs his formed with susceptible performers and past fails to springiness fractional of them thing to do. Talented actors similar Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott and Cailee Spaeny are technically successful this movie, but they don’t permission an content due to the fact that the screenplay doesn’t spend them overmuch room. This is doubly frustrating due to the fact that each subordinate of Wicks’ parish is fixed astatine slightest a hint of a motive, but the movie doesn’t make galore of them beyond a cursory setup, leaving these characters stranded arsenic they hunt for a intent the movie ne'er bothers to provide.

Also, Johnson hasn’t wholly curbed his worst inclinations arsenic a writer, sneaking successful respective cheeky references to things similar Star Wars, his woody with Netflix, and discussing the tropes of classical execution enigma novels similar John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man. Most of these gags consciousness similar Johnson playing to the assemblage alternatively of the characters acting in-character, which hurts the movie’s verisimilitude. It’s not a dealbreaker by immoderate means, but if Johnson intends to support going with this series, it’s a inclination he’d beryllium omniscient to drop. Still, the auteur filmmaker pursuing up Knives Out’s caller inversion of the classical whodunnit look and Glass Onion’s sadly leaden and poorly structured crippled with a real-deal execution enigma without immoderate gimmicks was precisely what the bid needed.