There is a reason why shows like Murder, She Wrote are still shown on TV in 2025 – everyone loves a good mystery.
What makes the Knives Out films so great is that Rian Johnson writes the most labyrinthine, Russian doll mystery he can conjure, then adds in how he feels about the state of the world.
In the first Knives Out, Johnson used a cosy New England mansion to explore first-term Trump class issues and the wealth gap, Glass Onion used a Greek island to explore how he felt about the Covid-19 pandemic, and the latest film in the franchise, Wake Up Dead Man, explores something timeless – one’s relationship with faith.
The political subtext is still there – not as jarring as it was in Glass Onion, thankfully – but Johnson wisely sets up the whodunit and wraps it around how people navigate their relationship with faith in the modern world.
Conclave became a hit last year for this exact reason; people who go to mass every Sunday and edgy 20-somethings who put down no religion on the census form just to annoy their parents could all relate to what kind of religion (if any) we’d like the world to present.
In Wake Up Dead Man, Johnson is looking to provoke family discussions this Christmas with his exploration of what it means to have faith in 2025.
Three movies in, Johnson knows you’re all here to see Daniel Craig show up, do his crazy Foghorn Leghorn accent, and solve a mystery; this time, he has the discipline to not reveal him until the 40-minute mark.
Like Sinners earlier this year, there is a real confidence and assurance in the writing and direction; a less patient, or less confident director would have gone the obvious route, but that isn’t how Johnson rolls (which explains why he made the best Star Wars film since Empire Strikes Back).
As we will get to later in this review, sometimes the confidence leads Johnson down some blind alleys.
Benoit Blanc has become Daniel Craig’s signature role alongside James Bond, and three movies in, it is clear that Craig is having the time of his life in the role – and we can’t help but be caught up in the enthusiasm, as well.
This time out, Benoit Blanc is going for a Sir Jim Ratcliffe and three-piece suit look, as he investigates the mysterious death of a Monsignor in an upstate New York church.
Glass Onion made a mistake in giving us a bit too much backstory about Blanc; Johnson realised it’s just funnier to have this weird guy show up, solve a mystery, and have people take him at face value.
This time, Blanc is trying to solve the case of Monsignor Wicks, who is played with real zeal by Josh Brolin.
Brolin had a strong 2025; he helped sell the terror of trying to find his missing kid in Weapons and gave Edgar Wright’s lifeless spin on The Running Man a sense of gravitas it didn’t deserve.
His performance in Wake Up Dead Man might be the best of the lot.
Monsignor Wicks isn’t the kind of figure you’d want delivering Christmas mass this year.
He’s surly, grumpy, shouts, and has a nearly parasitic relationship with him and his flock.
When he is found dead, the suspicion falls to his flock of devoted followers – with a strong Irish contingent.
Dublin’s own Andrew Scott and former Fair City star Daryl McCormack are part of the ensemble this time; Scott plays a washed-up sci-fi novelist who thinks he has found salvation in the words of Monsignor Wicks, and McCormack plays a Republican who is looking to use Monsignor Wicks’ words for political gain.
The ensemble casts are where the Knives Out movies truly shine and feel like the most expensive episode of Murder, She Wrote or Columbo ever.
Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Thomas Haden Church, and Cailee Spaeny are also suspects in the murder of Monsignor Wicks.
Close gets the most to do of the ensemble – and reminds us why she’s an eight-time Oscar nominee – but Scott’s part feels strangely underwritten.
Scott does well with what he has, but is kind of anonymous in the context of the wider ensemble – it’s like he needed an extra scene or two to stand out and not blend in with the wallpaper.
McCormack fares slightly better and has the unenviable task of being Johnson’s mouthpiece for what he feels is wrong with the current state of American politics, yet McCormack manages to make the heavy-handed dialogue sing a bit.
The Knives Out films also have a secret weapon – they always have a strong co-lead for Daniel Craig to play off, and this time, Josh O’Connor does the honours.
The original Knives Out helped make Ana De Armas a global star, and Janelle Monae’s performance in Glass Onion was underrated at the time, but O’Connor’s performance here as a young priest is real star-making stuff.
Readers of these reviews will know that O’Connor is often invoked as one of the best actors of his generation, with his star-making performance in Challengers last year and his shaggy performances in La Chimera and The Mastermind solidifying him as a future superstar in waiting.
Best known for playing a younger Prince Charles in the latter seasons of The Crown (you’ll recognise him straight away from the ears), O’Connor is tasked with carrying Wake Up Dead Man and makes it look effortless.
Johnson instils a lot of trust in O’Connor to get the audience hooked while everyone is waiting for Daniel Craig to burst into a scene, and O’Connor does a terrific job of underlying the film’s core themes.
Wake Up Dead Man is an odd duck; the mystery itself isn’t really worth writing home about and is nearly secondary, but it’s the exploration of faith that really makes this film sing.
O’Connor’s Reverend Jud Duplenticy has skeletons in his closet, and has found faith again in a bid to drive his inner demons out.
When the film explores the Reverend’s relationship with faith, the film stops being a Knives Out movie and has more in common with Black Narcissus.
Anytime a film goes off the beaten track can be a gamble (there’s a reason we weren’t as hot on One Battle After Another as other publications), but Wake Up Dead Man has enough belief in itself to win the audience over with its diversion into faith.
Perhaps that is the point Johnson is trying to make – by playing with the audience’s expectations, it makes them contend with broader thematic elements instead of the mystery at hand.
The mystery this time also reveals Johnson’s worst tendencies as a writer; he can never leave well enough alone and adds another layer on top of what is already a well-made cake.
The first Knives Out was a well-told, twisty mystery that pulled the rug out from under the viewer in a good way.
But for Johnson, it isn’t enough to tell a simple mystery well anymore; he feels the need to write himself into a corner and put a straitjacket on himself.
As a writing exercise, it was probably fun to write, and on a technical level, we respect the ambition (how many times have we complained about scripts being underwritten?), but there is such a thing as overcooking the meal, too.
Wake Up Dead Man is titled from U2’s 1997 album Pop, and it’s fitting that it’s named after such a divisive album.
Perhaps time will be kinder to this film, like it was with U2’s foray into dance music.