Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is a Kentucky Fried Fog of Faith.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Director: Rian Johnson

Starring: Daniel Craig, Josh O'Connor, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott

Non-spoiler review

If Knives Out was Rian Johnson’s love letter to Agatha Christie’s cozy country houses, and Glass Onion was his satire of the tech-bro elite bathed in Mediterranean sun, then Wake Up Dead Man is his descent into the gothic, fog-drenched soul of American belief. It is a colder, sharper, and significantly more sombre affair than its predecessors. While it sacrifices some of the effervescent "fun" that defined Benoit Blanc’s previous outings, it replaces it with a richness of character and atmospheric tension that proves this franchise still has plenty of secrets left to confess.

The film opens not with a donut hole or a disruption, but with a hymn. We are transported to a secluded parish in upstate New York, a place where the winter chill seems to have seeped into the very stonework of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. Here, the charismatic and terrifying Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (a scenery-chewing Josh Brolin) holds court over a dwindling but fanatical congregation. When Wicks is found dead in a locked vestry—a classic "locked-room" impossibility that our famous detective, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) later refers to as "the Holy Grail of detection"—the game is afoot.

The first thing one notices is the visual language. Cinematographer Steve Yedlin trades the warm ambers of the first film and the blinding teals of the second for a palette of slate greys, deep blacks, and the flickering gold of candlelight. This is a beautiful film, arguably the most visually striking of the trilogy. The camera lingers on gargoyles and snowy graveyards, creating a sense of claustrophobia that serves the narrative well. Johnson is leaning hard into the "dark" part of dark comedy here; the stakes feel less like a game of Cluedo and more like a battle for souls.

At the center of this storm is, of course, Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc. Craig has settled into the role with the comfort of a man wearing a well-broken-in velvet smoking jacket. However, Blanc is different here. He is less the whimsical agent of chaos we saw in Glass Onion. Confronted with the gravity of religious dogma and the solemnity of the setting, Blanc is quieter, more observant, and perhaps even a little rattled. It is a subtle adjustment in performance that keeps the character from becoming a caricature of himself.

A Knives Out mystery lives or dies by its ensemble, and Wake Up Dead Man boasts a lineup that rivals the original. The standout, without question, is Josh O’Connor as Father Jud Duplenticy. A former boxer turned priest, Father Jud is the film’s emotional anchor. O’Connor brings a raw, physical vulnerability to the role—a man trying to punch his way toward holiness. His chemistry with Craig is electric, forming a buddy-cop dynamic that provides the film’s few moments of genuine warmth.

Josh Brolin, though his screen time is limited by the nature of being the victim, looms large over the proceedings. He plays Wicks not just as a hypocrite, but as a true believer in his own power, terrifying in his conviction. The supporting cast is equally game: Glenn Close is icy perfection as the devoted parish administrator who knows where the bodies (literal and metaphorical) are buried; Jeremy Renner plays against type as a nervous, alcoholic doctor; and Andrew Scott delivers a wonderfully neurotic turn as a sci-fi author whose best days are behind him.

Johnson’s script is, as always, a clockwork mechanism of setup and payoff. The central mystery—how the Monsignor was killed in a room sealed from the inside—is ingenious. The solution, when it arrives, feels earned and fair, relying on psychological misdirection rather than cheap cheats.

However, the film’s ambitions go beyond the "whodunit." Wake Up Dead Man tackles themes of guilt, the corruption of faith, and the dangerous allure of charismatic leaders. It is a more mature film than its predecessors, asking difficult questions about what we believe and why. The satire is sharper, aimed not at the easy targets of trust-fund babies or influencers, but at the more insidious structures of authority that demand blind obedience.

I am often asked hat keep's a film from getting five stars, or perfection, as it were? Principally, for Wake Up Dead Man it is a matter of pacing and tone. At nearly two and a half hours, the film feels its length, particularly in the second act. There is a stretch in the middle where the investigation seems to spin its wheels, bogged down by a few too many theological debates that, while well-written, stall the momentum of the murder mystery.

Furthermore, the shift in tone might be jarring for those who come to this franchise strictly for a good time. Wake Up Dead Man is heavy. There is a palpable sense of grief running through the narrative that the occasional quip from Benoit Blanc cannot entirely dispel. While this emotional weight gives the film substance, it also robs it of the rewatchable, popcorn-munching joy that made the first film such a phenomenon. The climax, while thrilling, is also surprisingly bleak, lacking the triumphant "eat the rich" catharsis of the previous entries.

Despite these minor quibbles, Wake Up Dead Man is a triumph of craft and storytelling. It proves that Rian Johnson is not interested in simply repeating a successful formula. He has taken his detective and dropped him into a world that challenges him, both intellectually and spiritually. It is a film that rewards attention. The intricate plotting, the stunning cinematography, and the powerhouse performance by Josh O'Connor make it a must-watch. It may not be the "funniest" Knives Out mystery, but it is certainly the most haunting. Benoit Blanc has woken up the dead, and the ghosts he found have plenty to say.

Wake Up Dead Man is streaming now on Netflix