This coming weekend is going to be a big one in theaters. The third Avatar film is set to arrive, and considering how popular both the previous films we can expect theaters will be flooded with viewers, many of them wearing 3D glasses for the first time in years.
However, for me, the release of a highly anticipated third movie in a series happened this past weekend, and on a much smaller screen. I finally got to sit down and watch Wake Up Dead Man, Rian Johnson's third Benoit Blanc mystery, though not in the way I had originally planned. However, I did find at least one way that watching a Knives Out movie was actually better at home than in theaters.
I’m A Big Proponent Of The Theatrical Experience
The first Knives Out movie was a monster hit when it was released in theaters, which made it feel a little strange when Netflix snagged the rights to distribute the two planned sequels. However, both Glass Onion and the brand new Wake Up Dead Man did get (limited) theatrical releases.
As somebody who is still a big fan of the theatrical experience, I made a point to go see Glass Onion in theaters when it came out a few years ago. I wanted to have that same experience that I remembered so well from watching Knives Out, and it was great.
I had fully intended to do the same thing with Wake Up Dead Man. Unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way, and I simply wasn’t able to find the time to go see the new movie before it arrived on Netflix this past Friday. While I still could see Wake Up Dead Man in theaters as of this writing, it didn’t really make sense when I could watch it at home, so I used my Netflix subscription and sat down to enjoy it.
Watching Wake Up Dead Man On Netflix Allowed Me To Engage With It In A Different Way
When sitting down to watch Wake Up Dead Man, my main concern was about my movie being interrupted. My kids were asleep down the hall, and they don't always like going to bed. Potential distractions from a movie I really want to see are a main reason I frequently won't start watching a movie at home.
Luckily, they weren’t a problem, but I still stopped the movie a couple of times very intentionally. I needed to pause it because my wife and I were clearly having thoughts about the mystery at the center of Wake Up Dead Man and wanted to talk them out.
I thought maybe the story was going to go one way, only to have that theory specifically brought up in the film, only to be disproven. My wife thought she knew “whodunit” and was pretty close, though with some significant missing details.
I didn’t stop the movie much, and those few instances were only for a minute or so each time, but it was absolutely fun to have these conversations in a way I absolutely wouldn’t have had I been sitting next to my wife in a theater. It enhanced this particular viewing experience.
To be clear, I have not become a convert to the Church of Netflix, which seems to believe that nobody actually wants to go to theaters anymore. I think theaters are great, and I still would have liked to have seen this movie there, but I was afraid that by not watching Wake Up Dead Man in a theater, I would have a lesser experience. I don't think it was better or worse. It was valuable in a different way.
