WAKE UP DEAD MAN Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Rian Johnson
Stars: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack, Cailee Spaeny, Thomas Haden Church, Jeffrey Wright, Annie Hamilton, James Faulkner, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bridget Everett, Noah Segan, Cecilia Blair.
Produced under the auspices of Netflix, Wake Up Dead Man is the third film in writer/director Rian Johnson’s Knives Out mystery series. It is an improvement on the disappointing second film in the series, 2021’s Glass Onion, and marks a return to the classic locked room mystery – the impossible crime that detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) must solve – and a rogue’s gallery of troubled suspects all with a motive, together with plenty of red herrings and clever twists thrown in for good measure.
It all starts when amateur former boxer turned priest Jud Duplencity (the very busy Josh O’Connor, recently seen in Challengers and The Mastermind, etc) is sent to Our Lady Of Perpetual Fortune, a small parish in the town of Chimney Rock in upstate New York after having punched out a rude priest for some disparaging remarks. Jud is sent to assist the reactionary firebrand priest Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a charismatic fire and brimstone type whose flock seems to have grown smaller as he alienates many with his targeted criticism of their wicked lifestyles. Jud is wrestling with his own crisis of faith as he tries to understand Wicks’ cynical approach to religion.
Then during the middle of one of his typically bellicose sermons on Good Friday, Wicks steps into a small vestry, and winds up dead, stabbed to death. Because of his tempestuous relationship with Wicks, Jud becomes the prime suspect in the killing.
Blanc joins forces with the town’s police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis, from Black Swan, etc) to solve this mystery. The suspects include Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close, from Fatal Attraction, etc), a devout parishioner and Wicks’ trusted and fiercely loyal aide who oversees the smooth running of the church through newsletters and paying invoices; Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner, from The Avengers series of movies), the alcoholic town doctor; Vera Draven (Kerry Washington, from Django Unchained, etc), a lawyer; Lee Ross (Andrew Scott, from All Of Us Strangers, etc), a failed sci-fi author whose career has stalled; Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny, from Priscilla, etc), a crippled cellist struggling with her faith and her chronic pain; Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack, from Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, etc), an aspiring right wing politician and Trump-like influencer who has embraced many contentious platforms for his You Tube channel; and groundskeeper Samuel Holt (Thomas Haden Church, from Sideways, etc).
The ensemble cast all deliver strong performances here, fleshing out the quirky characters. And Craig is at his enigmatic best as the droll and egotistical Blanc (“the world’s greatest detective”), with his Southern accent. Craig seems to be settling into the character with ease now and develops his idiosyncratic personality. He develops a great rapport with O’Connor’s earnest young priest as they work together to solve the mystery.
The central mystery here is cleverly constructed and its intricate nature will keep even the most astute of armchair sleuths engaged. Johnson’s film has been influenced by the mystery writings of Agatha Christie, Edgar Allen Poe and John Dickson Carr, the acknowledged father of the classic locked room murder mystery. While the film may be a conventional murder mystery on the surface Johnson tackles some big themes including religion, faith, guilt, morality, spirituality. The narrative is laced with flashes of dark humour. However, Wake Up Dead Man runs for an overly generous and unnecessary 144 minutes, which means there is plenty of padding to be found.
The film looks good too thanks to the cinematography of regular collaborator Steve Yedlin, who gives the material a suitably Gothic look. There is some great production design from Rick Heinrichs, especially with the interiors of the church. The film has been deftly edited by Bob Ducsay, another regular collaborator, which heightens the tension.
As usual with these Netflix films, Wake Up Dead Man will gain a brief cinematic release for a couple of weeks before heading straight to streaming. And the title for the film comes from a song on U2’s 1997 album Pop.
★★★☆
