4 min to read
Wake Up Dead Man
How is the new Knives Out movie, and should you see it?
Review: What a unique entry into the Knives Out world. It is such a well written and well crafted movie that is thematically rich, but it’s simultaneously my least favorite of the Knives Out movies. Let me explain:
The Knives Out movies are known for being fun, unique, fast-paced murder mysteries whose sole purpose is to have Beniot Blanc solve the murder. The way in which the movies are told are pretty simple, but Blanc’s intelligence is always able to show as he is able to read between the lines, find and remember the small details, and be able to understand exactly if/when the lively and bombastic characters are lying to him. It’s also had incredible direction and camera work that truly envelope you in the story and lives of the characters of the story. On top of maintaining the high quality production of the first two movies, what sets this one apart from the others is that it is thematically much more rich and dense, having the whole story written around the perspective of faith and belief.
Wake Up Dead Man takes place in Albany, New York at a small Catholic Church with the main story revolving around Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), a young priest who has been assigned to the area, with his job to increase the number of active people participating in the Church, with his main roadblocks being the pastor already there, Mons. Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) and his small tight-knit group of followers (None of this is spoilery, all of this is established in the first 15 minutes of the movie). Since the story revolves mostly around Father Jud, it also revolves around some of his past, his personal struggles, his struggles with faith, and what brought him to be a priest, leading to the movie having significant discussions and themes about overcoming trials, following Christ, doing what is right, and what it means to be a true believer.
This exploration was unique to have in a Knives Out movie, allowing for some extremely well written dialogue (the best of the 3 movies) and very unique character dynamics to be explored. That being said, the combination of exploring these religious themes mixed in with a murder mystery didn’t seem to allow the movie to spend as much time as necessary to level up or match the mystery and intrigue of the previous films. Since so much time is spent exploring the thematic elements of the movie, the amount of time spent with Benoit Blanc solving the murder seems distant and lacking. While the actual solving of the murder was very interesting and well crafted, spending so much time building up only upon the themes of the film, the buildup solving of the murder felt slightly rushed, having the resolution and conclusion of the movie not be as satisfying as the other Knives Out movies. It’s interesting and satisfying thematically, but it doesn’t fully scratch the itch of being a fully satisfying murder mystery.
Another aspect of the Knives Out movies that can be the most entertaining part of the movie are the supporting cast members: the murderer, the victim, and the other suspects. Both the first and second movies have an incredible and memorable cast of characters that come together to make such a unique and interesting story that hasn’t been told before, allowing the “unique” behaviors and characteristics of each to make each character a great potential murderer for the story. Wake Up Dead Man does a fantastic job of presenting the unique characters just like you would like, but where it lacks is spending quality time with the characters, fleshing them out, and making them all feel like viable and potential murderers. Instead of being suspects. There wasn’t enough quality time spent with any of them to have given them them to feel fully developed like in the other movies. They are solely interesting characters rather than memorable ones.
So, overall, with all of these different parts together, you have this movie that is written, directed, and shot extremely well, but at times it doesn’t feel like the Knives Out movie you would expect or want. While it’s still very good, I needed more from Benoit, I needed more intrigue from the side characters, and I needed the movie’s genre and themes to merge in a more complete and satisfying way. It may have seemed that I’m criticizing the movie more than I was talking about how much I enjoyed it, but I was just a little disappointed how some parts of the movie didn’t work for me personally, leaving me less satisfied at the end when compared to the others (my wife enjoyed this even more than Glass Onion, which she also LOVES). A majority of the strengths of the first two movies are still all throughout this one (the witty dialogue between characters, the wonderful direction and camera work, and extreme amount of intrigue that flows consistently throughout the movie), and I’d 100% recommend this to anyone who loved the first two. As a whole this didn’t satisfy me as much as the first two, but it’s still a very good movie.
Rating: 4/5
Knives Out Movie Ranking
- Knives Out (2019)
- Glass Onion (2022)
- Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
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