"Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery": one-paragraph review

actors, L to R: Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Daniel Craig, Mila Kunis, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church

About a third of the way through 2025's "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery," written and directed by the audience-hating Rian Johnson, I had already had enough. For a movie that is purportedly skeptical about the evils of organized religion (and I admit that organized religion has done a lot of terrible things), the story is overbearingly preachy about its own leftist agenda. This was a problem with the two previous "Knives Out" films as well, but I'd argue it was more of a problem in the first film than in the second. In this third installment, there is no attempt to hide the writer-director's agenda or his contemptuous caricaturing of the American right. The story focuses on a young priest named Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), transferred by Bishop Langstrom (Jeffrey Wright) and a council to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, which is pastored by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a fire-and-brimstone priest whose caustic sermons have served to shrink the congregation down to just a handful of members, including overly serious Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), bitter divorcee Dr. Nathaniel "Nat" Sharp (Jeremy Renner), lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), rightie YouTuber and politician wannabe Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), sour-on-life writer Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), earnest groundskeeper Sam (Thomas Haden Church), and wheelchair-bound Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny). Young Father Jud, an ex-boxer from a gentler, more liberal theological background, finds himself in conflict with Monsignor Wicks and his fiery style. When he witnesses Monsignor Wicks's apparent murder, the police arrive on scene with private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). Police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) is skeptical of allowing Blanc to recruit Father Jud to help solve the murder since Father Jud is himself the chief suspect. What follows is the revelation of a convoluted scheme that has gone wrong at several points, with the guiltiest parties eliminating themselves by the end. With a run time of around two hours and twenty minutes, I found myself fidgeting by the end. I was also pretty sure I knew who the fundamental culprit was fairly early on in the movie for the same reason that I knew who the big bad guy was going to be before the second episode of Season 1 of "The Terminal List": it's always the person right under your nose, and it's never the people who look the guiltiest at first. This wasn't because I'd caught every clue in the story, but rather because I have the writerly instinct of knowing how unoriginal plots are often constructed. Rian Johnson, as a writer still trying to subvert expectations, remains "not half as smart as he thinks he is." I was amused to see so many Marvel actors involved in this project (Renner, Close, Brolin, Church, Wright). It was good to see Jeremy Renner back in action after his horrific winter accident from a couple years ago, but surprising to see him sporting a double chin. The film also contains plenty of biblical tropes and quotes, and since the story involves a fake resurrection at one point, I just knew that some character was going to mention "Scooby Doo." In all, it was two hours and twenty minutes of well-acted, unmemorable tedium and overly convoluted plotting (which, admittedly, the script is smart enough to call out). Writer-director Johnson is on record saying he was partly inspired by Agatha Christie this time around; in my review of "Glass Onion," I had noted how contrived and AC Doyle-ish his plotting had been. This time around, Christie's influence was more obvious: Johnson leaves a breadcrumb-trail of sensory evidence for the viewer to follow and solve the mystery on his own. I didn't solve the mystery on my own, but as I said above, I was pretty sure I knew who the most guilty party was fairly early on. While the movie grapples with various ways in which to be a Christian, its bitterly cynical and overtly leftist politics tend to overshadow other themes, and it all becomes overbearing. Also—is the obviously made-up surname Duplenticy supposed to be a nod to the concept of duplicity? Father Jud, with his complicated past, does seem to be hiding some things. While the acting and cinematography are great, I do not recommend this movie to anyone but the most diehard Knives Out-franchise lovers. To the rest of you: find something better to do for 144 minutes.