Story
With Wake Up Dead Man, Rian Johnson brings the Knives Out franchise into a haunting, overtly gothic landscape inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and classical locked-room mysteries. This time, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) travels to a quiet town in Upstate New York to investigate the death of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a charismatic but deeply polarizing priest. All signs point toward the troubled young Reverend Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), whose clashes with Wicks’ authoritarian spiritual rule were well known.
But Johnson thrives on misdirection—is the obvious culprit truly obvious, or has Blanc been thrown into a far more corrupt, symbolically rich labyrinth? What unfolds is a tale steeped in religious imagery, moral decay, and an “impossible crime” staged within a church whose stained glass reveals more than it illuminates.
Performances
Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc, once again leaning delightfully into the Southern-fried theatrics of his iconic detective. This time, he walks a fine line between charismatic and caricature—yet remains consistently entertaining, even with slightly less screen time.
josh O’Connor, however, is the film’s emotional anchor. As Reverend Jud Duplenticy, he delivers a career-defining performance—raw, vulnerable, funny, and utterly magnetic. He embodies the spiritual conflict at the center of the story, representing everything noble the church can be, while standing in opposition to Brolin’s Wicks, a man who weaponizes faith for power. Together, the ensemble—including Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church, and Cailee Spaeny—creates the richest character interplay of the entire trilogy.
Technicalities
Cinematographer Steve Yedlin transforms the church into a breathing, shadow-drenched character—stained-glass mosaics glowing eerily, stone arches casting long silhouettes, hard-light contrasts mirroring theological divides of mercy versus judgment. The film is visually luscious, evoking both Poe’s melancholy and classic Gothic dread.
Johnson’s screenplay dives headfirst into the tricky mechanics of a locked-room mystery. While self-aware and clever, the puzzle ultimately leans toward convoluted, occasionally stretching credibility—yet filmmaking craft and character stakes hold the narrative steady. Production design, thematic symbolism, and pacing all elevate the atmosphere, even when the plot’s logic wobbles.
Analysis
Wake Up Dead Man continues Johnson’s tradition of remixing and reinventing the murder-mystery blueprint. This installment is less comedic and more atmospheric, operating at the intersection of faith, fear, community control, and moral decay. The film smartly interrogates religion—not condemning it wholesale, but critiquing how it can be corrupted by ego, trauma, or institutional rot.
Still, the locked-room mystery—the spine of the film—feels more muddled than in previous entries. Clues appear overstuffed, twists feel simultaneously predictable and overstated, and seasoned whodunit fans may spot the killer well before Blanc does. Yet the emotional core remains strong, thanks to Johnson’s thematic intention and josh O’Connor’s extraordinary performance.
Character dynamics are easily the trilogy’s strongest here. Everyone embodies a unique relationship to faith—devoted, wounded, exploitative, rebellious—and the ensemble chemistry is irresistible. The only major thematic drawback is that systemic religious issues are touched upon but not deeply examined, with the conclusion reverting to personal greed rather than structural critique.
Even so, this third film is gorgeous, engaging, and consistently entertaining—an ambitious gothic experiment that pays off more often than it falters.
What Works
• josh O’Connor’s phenomenal, deeply human performance
• Stunning gothic cinematography by Steve Yedlin
• The richest character dynamics in the trilogy
• Strong thematic interplay between religion and morality
• Benoit Blanc’s continued charm
• Bold tonal shift into gothic territory
What Doesn’t Work
• A needlessly complicated locked-room mystery
• Predictable killer reveal
• Occasional over-subversion leading to muddled logic
• Some themes feel surface-level rather than systemic
• Slightly reduced presence of Blanc in the narrative
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