Review of 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'
Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), a former boxer with a dark past turned Catholic priest in upstate New York, is assigned to be assistant pastor after punching a rude deacon. His posting is for the rural parish Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), an opinionated and terrifying priest who deliberately chooses to provoke and often verbally attack the members of his community. When Wicks is killed during a Good Friday Easter service it seems impossible to solve - A concrete room, no witnesses, and in a small amount of time. Jud is joined by renowned detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in attempting to solve the crime which appears to revolve around key members of the church: Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close) devote church lady and Wick's right hand; former politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack); lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington) with a smoking habit and adopted mother of Cy; former best-selling Science Fiction author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) looking for a come back story; disabled musician Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny) who looks to Wick's for a miracle cure, with massive donations to the church; now separated Dr. Nathaniel Sharp (Jeremy Renner) still agonizing over his wife's betrayal; and Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), the church's secretive groundskeeper. As dark secrets are revealed it seems that Wicks has returned to life on the third day…
An inventive mystery that keeps you guessing pretty much up to the end with numerous plot twists along the way. In contrast to the other Knives Out mysteries, this one has detective Blanc (complete with his unusual accent which I still find a bit grating) work with Father Jud to try to unravel the clues. There are a several scenes that are quite difficult to watch which keeps up the interest in this 2 hour+ film set in rural New York state. The story is quite complex but fairly easy to follow though it is unclear whether anyone would be able to figure out the mystery without waiting for it to be revealed. There are quite a lot of religion-bashing bits to this film that some may find slightly disturbing particularly Wick's cult-like congregation. The performances are fairly one dimensional here but it nice to see a good amount of A-list talent here including Glenn Close as the hard-nosed, Wicks worshipping Martha and Andrew Scott as the washed-up author who seem to revel in playing such quirky characters.
An enjoyable and entertaining but slightly long mystery that keeps you guessing.
Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”
Review Date: 2026-01-01
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Studio: Netflix
Year: 2025
Length: 144 minutes
Genre: Melodrama
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14364480/
Other reviewed films by Rian Johnson:
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
- Knives Out (2019)