Holiday family time kept me at home last week along with an earlier press time, so I decided to watch a newly released Netflix movie instead of trying to head out to the theater.
I have been a fans of the “Knives Out” series since its inception in 2019 and have kept up with its subsequent sequels – including “Wake Up Dead Man” that released at the end of November.
Between several favorable online reviews and a hearty endorsement by my sister, it seemed like the perfect movie to catch between wrapping Christmas presents and other festive activities.
Dead Man is brilliantly shot wih very animated characters and a stellar cast with enough comedic quips to keep the drama and mystery from overshadowing everything.
Plus, the ending features a fully solved and resolved murder case with just enough flair to hold my interest all the way through.
Wake Up Dead Man, marketed as “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” is an American mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson.
It is the third film in the Knives Out series.
It stars Daniel Craig, who reprises his role as master private detective Benoit Blanc.
The ensemble cast also includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, James Faulkner, Annie Hamilton, and Thomas Haden Church.
Clocking in at 144 minutes long, the movie is rated PG-13 for violent content, bloody images, strong language, some crude sexual material, and smoking.
Former boxer turned Catholic priest Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor) is reassigned after punching a rude deacon.
He is made assistant pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a rural parish in upstate New York led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Brolin).
Wicks is the grandson of Reverend Prentice Wicks (Faulkner), who forced Jefferson’s mother Grace (Hamilton) to remain at the church with the promise of receiving his inheritance, only for the fortune to disappear after his death.
Naturally, after her inheritance was stolen from her, Grace angrily trashed the church and destroyed its crucifix, which the younger Wicks refuses to replace.
Jud comes into conflict with Wicks over his incendiary preaching, which has driven away all but his most loyal parishioners – Nat Sharp (Renner), Vera Draven (Washington), Cy Draven (McCormack), Lee Ross (Scott), and Simone Vivane (Spaeny).
During a Good Friday service, Wicks collapses and dies in a storage closet near the pulpit.
Judd finds him stabbed in the back with a knife fashioned from a devil’s-head lamp adornment that Jud had previously drunkenly stolen from a bar and thrown through a church window.
Though the evidence is inconclusive, suspicion falls on Jud.
Police Chief Geraldine Scott (Kunis) summons private detective Benoit Blanc (Craig) to investigate.
He recruits Jud to assist him despite Geraldine’s objections, assured of his innocence.
After Wicks’ burial in Prentice’s mausoleum, Jud and Blanc question the congregation, learning Wicks had abruptly disavowed his followers at a meeting just before his death.
Things only get weirder from there as the loyal five each expose their own motivations for Wicks’ death and have Blanc scrambling to put it altogether and save Jud from prison.
Overall, I enjoyed the film and was glad that it kept my attention and interest all the way through.
I don’t want to spoil anything, but you’ll be surprised at who the real murderer is and how the whole plot unravels.
