Wake Up Dead Man

5 outta 5

With the third Knives Out Mystery, writer/director Rian Johnson once again jumps genres, defies expectations, and has a great mystery with Wake Up Dead Man. While the 2^nd film, Glass Onion, went full bonkers comedy, this is more of a gothic horror film with ruminations upon faith and control. But there is a very compelling and confounding mystery at the centre of it, and Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc continues to be a very entertaining cinematic gumshoe. Wake Up Dead Man twists at unexpected times, making for an engrossing film that is both funny and philosophical with a mystery that keeps the audience guessing at what reality is.

Reverend Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) has been assigned to a new parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, under the direction of the awful Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) as Wicks delivers fire and brimstone sermons that intentionally tick off the audience. Despite his meanness, there are the steadfast faithful members of his congregation who are always returning; the lonesome doctor Sharp (Jeremy Renner), the constantly in pain Simone (Cailee Spaeny), lawyer Vera (Kerry Washington) and her conservative half-brother, Cy (Daryl McCormack), author Lee (Andrew Scott). Wicks is assisted by the devout Martha (Glenn Close) and church groundskeeper Samson (Thomas Haden Church) who is infatuated with Martha. Jud gets into a fight with Wicks and doesn’t seem happy with his situation.

Wicks delivers an even angrier sermon than usual and isolates himself in an enclosed room afterwards and then he turns up dead, stabbed in the back. All the evidence points towards Judy, which attracts the attention of the local police chief, Geraldine (Mila Kunis) and renowned detective Benoit Blanc (Craig). He teams up with the young priest to try to solve this unsolvable crime, which is so outlandish that even knife throwing robots could be plausible culprits. As Jud’s is bouncing between contemplating his faith in the church and his anger towards the dead Wicks, the past sins of the church are coming back to haunt the present. And then there is an impossible event that defies reality and could break even Benoit’s logical mind.

Craig’s Blanc is held back a bit as the first act of the movie is Jud relating the history of himself, the congregation and the impossible death of Wicks. The twist of the Knives Out movies is that they’re usually about someone else as Benoit assists them. Marta in the first film, Andi in the 2^nd and here it is Jud, the priest with issues of faith and absolutely hates his superior, Monsignor Wicks. O’Connor has funny and dramatically intense reactions to things that happen around him. He was a boxer who killed someone in the ring with hate in his heart, so his religious service is Jud trying to atone. But as he gets caught up in the mystery, Jud realizes that he eventually needs to let go of the case and concentrate on faith.

The movie has an interesting relationship with faith, as Jud finds solace in it, while Wicks uses it as a weapon to manipulate and control people. When Wicks finds out that Jud is having a congregation meeting without Wicks, the Monsignor freaks out. The congregation are scared little sheep in Wicks’ flock, and Wicks admits that he despises the congregation of losers. Brolin is supremely nasty as Wicks, and considering Brolin previously played Thanos, that is saying something.

Blanc really isn’t interested in religious hokum, preferring logical if improbable resolutions. He gets in one moment when tears a strip off the entire concept of religion, but as the incidents keep piling up, Blanc may have to believe in the unbelievable. Blanc still has a lot of very funny quips and at one point he delivers a religious-like sermon about the case. Kunis’ police chief has some very amusingly dry reactions. Spaeny’s Simone went to Wicks for healing, which makes her sympathetic. Renner’s Sharp is part of some interesting twists in the finale. Washington’s Vera is bitterly entangled with her presumed half-brother as Cy is a conservative jerk looking to gain political momentum. Scott’s Lee is an embittered author who is trying to get noticed with a book about Wicks. Church’s Samson seems like someone who could be dismissed until more layers are revealed. Probably the biggest performance is Close as Martha who is often praying about miracles in public and she gets in some impressive moments by the end. The movie is still very funny in unexpected places, like when two people talk about gaining power as “father and son” and one clenches his fist, and then Jud asks, “Like in Star Wars?” as it’s just straight up ripped out from Empire Strikes Back. When Simone gets out of her wheelchair, Martha loudly proclaims it’s a miracle and Simon angrily dismisses her with, “I can walk, Martha, it just hurts.”

The sense of gothic horror is so prevalent there’s seemingly no way to explain what is happening without the supernatural intruding. At times things play out like a horror movie, with dark and dramatic intense mysticism, defying the audience’s expectations of what exactly is a Knives Out Mystery. The Knives Out series is consistently fantastic and Wake Up Dead Man is one of the more unique entries in a series that always swings for the fences.