Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), a former boxer turned Catholic priest in upstate New York, is reassigned after punching a rude deacon. He is made assistant pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a rural parish led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Wicks is the grandson of Reverend Prentice Wicks (James Faulkner), who forced Jefferson's mother, Grace (Annie Hamilton), to remain at the church with the promise of receiving his inheritance, only for the fortune to disappear after his death; Grace ransacked the church and destroyed its crucifix, which the younger Wicks refuses to replace. Jud comes into conflict with Wicks over his incendiary preaching, which has driven away all but his most loyal parishioners. During a Good Friday service, Wicks dies suddenly in a storage closet near the pulpit, stabbed in the back with a knife fashioned from a devil's head lamp adornment that Jud previously stole from a bar and threw through a church window. Though the evidence is inconclusive, suspicion falls on Jud... - Actors:
- Daniel Craig, Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church, Jeffrey Wright, Annie Hamilton, James Faulkner, Bridget Everett, Noah Segan, Jamie Karitzis, Kit Burden, Gavin Spokes, Paul Hilton
- Directors:
- Rian Johnson
- Producers:
- Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson
- Writers:
- Rian Johnson
- Aka:
- Knives Out 3
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Thrillers
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Reviews (2) of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Murder Mystery, Meet thy Maker - Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review by griggs
Benoit Blanc is now a proper creation, not just a funny voice in a nice suit. Craig and Rian Johnson have given him real weight: he doesn’t simply solve puzzles, he makes people show their workings — and it’s usually ugly.
This one is still wired into the present, with contemporary nods that feel natural rather than needy. But the real pull is the film’s interest in faith, grift, and the awkward question of how you stay decent when the world keeps rewarding the shameless. It’s a murder mystery with a conscience, and it actually uses it.
The Craig–O’Connor pairing is the secret sauce. That early, extended church conversation — with the light shifting as they talk — is confident, patient filmmaking. They’ve got a shared wry intelligence and a gentle edge that sells the quasi father–son dynamic without forcing it.
It’s the densest of the Blanc films, but the density adds mood and texture. By the end, it’s tightened its grip and earned its punchline.
Very Contrived But Entertaining Mystery Story - Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery review by GI
The third in the 'Knives Out Mysteries' series with Daniel Craig as the Hercule Poirot styled detective Benoit Blanc. It's an overly contrived plot and perhaps that's the whole idea, but this has the effect of moving the film away from a standard whodunnit and more to a convoluted puzzle narrative that occasionally gives the film a sense of tedium. The cast are exceptional even if some are underused but this is definitely an ensemble piece and follows the genre of the Agatha Christie type of story. Blanc is called in to a small New York State town after the local catholic priest is murdered in circumstances that make the crime 'impossible'. Josh Brolin plays the victim, a fire and brimstone priest who enjoys taunting his parishioners although has a small local following, all of whom it turns out have motives for killing him. His new assistant played by Josh O'Connor, is determined to find the killer although he's the chief suspect. The film is perfectly entertaining mostly because of the generous dollops of humour that are liberally spread throughout the script, indeed there are laugh out loud moments. The unravelling of the mystery is all fairly routine in many ways and while this is funny and clever it's also a film that relies on its contrivances to effectively work. the support cast of Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Daryl McCormack, Cailee Spaeney and Thomas Haden Church all add to the heady mix with Jefffrey Wright in a cameo role. Still not as good as the 2019 original though!