Wake Up Dead Man
★★★★
I’ve been on the Rian Johnson train ever since Brick, and at this point his Knives Out movies have become a personal holiday tradition. I’m not a hardcore murder-mystery purist—I don’t diagram alibis or pause to count clues—but something about this series just clicks for me. Maybe it’s the tone, maybe it’s the confidence, or maybe it’s watching Daniel Craig clearly having the time of his life as Benoit Blanc.
Wake Up Dead Man, the third entry in the trilogy, might be the boldest swing yet. What I continue to admire about these films is how different they are from one another while still feeling like they live in the same world. This time, Johnson takes us somewhere darker and more contemplative, centering the mystery around the death of an outspoken, controversial priest in a small community, played with commanding presence by Josh Brolin.
You can feel how deeply Johnson loves this genre. He knows every beat, every fake-out, every sly trick that invites you to play along… and then confidently pulls the rug out from under you anyway. Like the best mystery writers, he understands that the answer should feel inevitable only after you’ve been shown the truth.
What really elevates Wake Up Dead Man, though, is what it’s about. With its focus on a small Catholic church, the film isn’t just solving a murder—it’s wrestling with faith, forgiveness and the institutions we build around belief. By the end, I found myself laughing a bit at how much Johnson is clearly working through here. Beyond religion, the movie digs into modern political culture, nihilism and our obsession with elevated heroes. It’s heady stuff for a whodunit.
That ambition might be a deal-breaker for viewers looking for a clean, procedural mystery you’d find on network TV. But for me, that’s the appeal. Johnson somehow balances weighty ideas with sharp humor and genuine entertainment, and that’s no small feat.
A huge reason the film works is the cast. Josh O'Connor, who first blew me away in Challengers, is outstanding here. He more than holds his own alongside Craig, playing both suspect and unexpected ally, and he proves—again—that he can carry the emotional and narrative weight of a film.
Glenn Close brings her usual authority and gravitas, while Mila Kunis surprised me. I wasn’t totally sold on her as a small-town sheriff at first, but she grows into the role nicely. Thomas Haden Church is reliably excellent, making the most of limited screen time.
The supporting cast is stacked and well-used, including Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Annie Hamilton and Bridget Everett, each adding texture without pulling focus from the central mystery. No one here feels wasted, and no performance distracts from the larger picture.
My one real knock? The runtime. At nearly two and a half hours, Wake Up Dead Man occasionally overstays its welcome, especially during the reveal. That final stretch, usually the most electric part of a mystery, drags just enough that I caught myself thinking, “Okay, we get it, let’s wrap this up.” A little trimming would have gone a long way.
Still, that’s a relatively small complaint for a film this confident and ambitious. Johnson has clearly cracked a formula that allows him to reinvent the murder-mystery genre while still honoring it, and if this is where the Knives Out series is headed, I’m more than happy to keep showing up.
Bottom line: smart, funny, thoughtful and maybe just a touch indulgent, Wake Up Dead Man proves that Rian Johnson isn’t done surprising us anytime soon.
