Wake Up Dead Man: Whodunnit Blanc Within Church Walls
Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), the brilliant and rational detective, will once again find fame in newspapers and news outlets for solving a murder that seems like a divine mystery in Wake Up Dead Man: Knives Out Mystery (2025).
After the success of the first film, Knives Out (2019), and the second, Glass Onion (2022), director Rian Johnson reunites Benoit Blanc with a case that doesn’t entirely deal with worldly assets and materialistic struggles, but rather a secret behind the confessional.
Blanc is assigned to investigate the death of Father Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a controversial and manipulative priest at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude Parish in Chimney Rock, Upstate New York. Several members of the parish become suspects, particularly Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), a former boxer who has recently been placed at the parish for nine months as a rebuke for his previous troubles. The suspicion for Father Jud is strong because Father Jud and Monsignor Wicks appeared to have different understandings and values regarding faith and service in the Church. This was further compounded by Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack) recording their argument during confession of sin.
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Due to his controversial and manipulative sermons, Monsignor Wicks has only a few loyal congregants: Cy, a man striving for political success; Nate Sharp (Jeremy Renner), a doctor whose wife and child have left him; Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), a renowned author on the decline; Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), a lawyer and adoptive parent to Cy; and Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), a renowned cellist with an unknown and incurable injury. Now Blanc must find the ‘donut hole’ in the center of the Church, ‘kneeling at the altar of rationality.’
Rian Johnson returns to helm a star-studded ensemble in the Knives Out Mystery series, including Josh O’Connor, Mila Kunis, Glenn Close, Thomas Haden Church, Jeffrey Wright, Cailee Spaeny, Kerry Washington, Daryl McCormack, and Marvel stars like Josh Brolin and Jeremy Renner. Josh O’Connor displays good chemistry with Daniel Craig and balances the detective’s rationality with emotional depth. Moreover, the tattoo on his neck adds to his charisma as a young priest. The police officer, played by Mila Kunis, embodies the typical authoritative character in the soft-boiled detective formula, unable to solve the case on his/her own. Her chemistry with Blanc also demonstrates the relationship between a police officer and a detective, both searching for answers to a possible murder.
After watching this film, one aspect that will likely resonate most with religious life is Martha’s character. Glenn’s performance is exceptional, making the audience reflect on morals and our daily lives. The emotional depth and performance of these characters are further enhanced by the lightning and the mood of each character’s speech. Furthermore, the use of a modern Gothic tone adds a tense and mysterious atmosphere, perfectly complementing the film’s ecclesiastical aesthetic. The film’s pacing also seems appropriate, and for me, it seemed smooth, leaving me clueless about the killer behind the case.
Like any detective story with layers of mystery, this film also has several layers of flaws and strengths. Unlike the previous two films, several characters or suspects in this film appear underdeveloped, except for the character who holds a crucial role in the ongoing mystery. They dominate the early part of the film, as Blanc explores Father Jud’s perspective on the parish and Monsignor Wicks’ faithful congregation, but they become mere filler characters once Blanc enters the story.
Regardless, I think this film is the best of the two previous installments. Blanc’s humor and distinctive Southern drawl accent remain a hallmark, even though Wake Up Dead Man takes on gothic, almost horror-like elements. Furthermore, we know how rational and intelligent Blanc is in solving cases from the previous two films, but he’s now faced with a case that’s well-presented as a miracle. The story shows how Blanc cleverly approaches the case so that his logic can be understood, like a biblical story and the faith they hold dear. Unlike the previous Knives Out films, the story makes Blanc not directly identify the perpetrator but instead has the character confess, as if in a confessional of sin, as a final act of accountability.
I understand why fans consider this film to be the best, without diminishing the aesthetic value of Knives Out compared to the previous two films. From a religious perspective, this film successfully touched the audience’s heart, and also made me reflect a lot about love and forgiveness, but from a detective perspective, this film is very fresh and entertaining, especially for fans of the mystery archetype.
