Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is the third and latest installment of the Knives Out trilogy. Fun fact, if you didn't know, these three films are named after songs from Radiohead, The Beatles, and U2. Once again, Rian Johnson returns to write and direct, and Daniel Craig is back as clever detective Benoit Blanc, who now takes on a new murder mystery case at a church in a small town. A young priest named Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor) is accused of killing his boss, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Blanc will attempt to find the true murderer and solve his most complicated case yet. It does sound like you have already seen this premise done before in the other two films, but Wake Up Dead Man is unexpectedly the best installment of the series.
Benoit is back! Even if you have never seen any of the previous films, don't worry, you won't be lost. In fact, they're all standalone from one another. Craig is still amazing as always, and you just love seeing him have so much fun in the role. This man will forever be remembered for playing both James Bond and Benoit Blanc, because he is really one of the best actors in the industry. Like the other installments, Wake Up Dead Man also has a star-studded cast with supporting actors such as Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church. Some get to shine, and some, unfortunately, are left in the background. It's not easy for everyone to get the same level of character development, especially when you have too many people. Hopefully, it's a flaw you're able to let go of, and you just want to watch Craig having a blast as the iconic detective.
Third time's the charm. As mentioned in the intro, this is indeed the best installment of the trilogy for a few reasons. While Knives Out and Glass Onion are highly enjoyable murder mystery flicks, it's easy to know who the killers are in those films. This time around, not so much, which is quite surprising. It's less predictable than the other two. He heavily improves the visual style, emotional depth, and social commentary, making Wake Up Dead Man a lot more layered, and successfully adds the majestic, gothic nature of Edgar Allen Poe to this world through masterful camerawork and production design. Johnson knows he can't just take the same formula and make the same film over and over again. It does have some pacing issues and drags in some scenes with its long runtime, but for the most part, you're constantly invested in Benoit's case.
Wake Up Dead Man is 3/3 for Rian Johnson. Instead of rinse-and-repeat, he completely justifies his passion for making another Knives Out movie, especially with its tone, themes, and narrative structure. Johnson is a director who clearly loves this genre and provides a gripping experience for the audience.
Wake Up Dead Man is now showing in theaters.
Streaming on Netflix December 12.