Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)
Directed by Rian Johnson
When young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.
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What critics say influenced Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
The film’s pacing is nice and the usage of gothic themes makes Wake Up Dead Man stand out from Knives Out and Glass Onion.
Rian Johnson opts for a more grounded tone in line with Knives Out.
Knives Out turns on the heroine being a good and caring nurse; that Fr. Jud is a good and caring priest is even more important here.
In Knives Out, Johnson’s online sensibility was also apparent but it was sparingly used in a smarter way to modernise an old-fashioned template. It’s used considerably more here but in ways that feel similarly thought through.
…themes such as greed and classism (reminiscent of the previous Knives Out films)…
I can understand wanting to make things unpredictable, but the first two Knives Out movies had resolutions that were both much tighter and a lot more satisfying.
…a gothic tale with inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe and John Dickson Carr, the stormier dark to Glass Onion’s sunshiney light.
Visually, Wake Up Dead Man marks a stark departure from Glass Onion‘s Mediterranean sheen of sun-drenched elegance.
If Glass Onion worked as a sharp criticism of how stupid and destructive extreme wealth can be, Wake Up Dead Man digs deeper into how institutions fail and how personal charm can corrupt.
Comparada con las anteriores, esta tercera parte se siente más madura después del desorden de Glass Onion: Un misterio de Knives Out (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, 2022).
…the very murder(s) in need of solving in the sequel "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
…last year he switched between tennis lothario in Luca Guadagnino’s superior sports drama Challengers…
Josh O’Connor, meanwhile, continues to prove himself as one of the most exciting actors working today. He was excellent in Challengers, but here the entire story revolves around Jud, and he shines in the role.
…young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor, Challengers), a nervy and ill-shaven former boxer seeking redemption through the Catholic Church.
O’Connor, a star on the rise after Challengers and more, is asked to carry the film and he does so ably.
Set within a cloistered religious community, the film finds young priest Rev. Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor, Challengers) arriving to assist Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin, No Country for Old Men).
Indeed, the most impressive achievement of the director’s career is not Brick or The Last Jedi, though fashioning a high school whodunnit and the most divisive (and bold) Star Wars film both qualify as admirable.
Whether it’s teen detective mysteries (Brick), con-man globetrotting adventures (The Brothers Bloom), or original and franchise sci-fi alike (Looper and Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Johnson is always eager to dive into familiar pulpy palettes and refashion them into his own distinct character.
…and even with his Star Wars sequel, The Last Jedi (2017), which broke from convention in enough ways to sour some superfans.
Knives Out as a franchise has done the near impossible. Starting out as a quirky star studded indie whodunnit inspired by the director’s love of Agatha Christie in 2019, it offered Rian Johnson the chance to do something a bit more grounded, after singlehandedly crafting the best film in the recent Star Wars trilogy. (You can fight me on that one!)
Johnson is a director who can do no wrong, having succeeded in franchise assignments (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”)…
Cinematographer Steve Yedlin has been with Johnson through it all, from Brick to The Brothers Bloom, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Looper, and of course, each Knives Out film.