Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has joined the echelon of iconic detectives. Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Benoit Blanc…they are the last men you want to see when you’ve committed a crime. And now Rian Johnson’s third installment in the Knives Out franchise is here and it is glorious.
Craig returned as Blanc in the new film, Wake Up Dead Man, which stars Josh O’Connor as Father Jud, a priest who is trying to help Blanc and the local police solve a murder. But what ensues is a movie that is less about the beauty of a whodunit and more about the exploration of faith and what drives us towards seeking guidance from a higher power.
The constituents of the church of Monsignor Hicks (Josh Brolin) are all people completely dedicated to Hicks and less so the beliefs of the Catholic Church. Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Glenn Close, Thomas Haden Church, Daryl McCormack, and Cailee Spaeny make up his perish and while their storylines are intriguing, Wake Up Dead Man belongs to Blanc and Jud’s dynamic.
Both of these men are grappling with the unknown. They’re unsure who did this or how this murder happened and when Jud goes back to faith, Blanc goes back to facts and the two have a quiet understanding of the other’s point of view that makes this movie oddly perfect for those of us with religious trauma.
Johnson displays the turmoil of it beautifully with lighting shifts within the church, darker moments, and beyond. But so much of what makes Wake Up Dead Man the best of this franchise rides on the shoulders of O’Connor and Craig.
Who knew religious trauma could feel this good?
Johnson was once religious and you can tell while watching this film. As someone whose grandparents were Catholic but parents were non-religious, it really made me understand and see both sides of their beliefs. It is, in a lot of ways, what both Blanc and Jud are exploring throughout this film.
But what really works with Wake Up Dead Man is Johnson’s trust not only in his actors but his audience. At this point, he knows we’re here to see what Daniel Craig is up to but he makes us wait for it. And when we do finally get Benoit Blanc on the case, he’s a man with an open mind. He’s willing to listen to Jud, explore what faith really means, and it paints him in a completely new light for the audience.
The mystery elements of Wake Up Dead Man are still there but, for the most part, they’re not important. For once, I figured out what was going on (somewhat) as I was on this journey but I didn’t care that it was a bit more “predictable.” All because I wanted to be on the journey with Blanc and Jud as they explored their own trauma by talking to one another about theirs.
Johnson did something special with this franchise but Wake Up Dead Man takes it to the next level. Visionary and contained, this movie proves why Johnson is a master of this genre and I would watch 200 more of these movies with Daniel Craig at the center of them.
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