Published: December 8, 2025
After seeing the first two Knives Out films at home, it was really great to experience Wake Up Dead Man in the cinema. This third entry into the franchise continues the tradition of bringing together a star-studded cast of suspects to an intricate murder mystery that only Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc can solve. Rian Johnson’s scripts once again are so carefully written, laying each piece of the puzzle perfectly, providing us with many twists within the twists, multiple reveals, and bodies by the end. While it’s fun to formulate your own theories on who the murderer is throughout the film, this mystery doesn’t necessarily allow you to unravel the full truth, as not all the clues are presented until the final reveal. Even if you do somehow guess the murderer, it fortunately does not ruin the experience as the methods and the motivations are so well weaved together. Even Benoit Blanc is stumped for most of the movie, calling it “a classic impossible crime.”
Daniel Craig is, of course, the star of these films, serving as the detective in each movie. However, Benoit Blanc does not show up until almost 40 minutes into this installment. Once he does appear, he has plenty of screen time and bounces off Josh O’Connor with perfect chemistry. It is interesting as always, discovering small bits of information about his character like his relation to religion in this film, while still allowing the character to remain quite mysterious.
Josh O’Connor is the true star of this film. We follow his character, Father Judd Duplenticy, as the new priest at this church. But, as he was the only one on stage at the time of the murder, he seems to be the most obvious suspect, and must team up with Benoit Blanc to clear his name and expose the murderer.
Even though the film sits at almost 2 and a half hours, I wouldn’t have minded if it was a bit longer. Not only because I love spending time in this world and with these characters, but mostly because I feel a lot of the ensemble is wasted. I wish we got more Jeremy Renner, Thomas Haden Church, and Kerry Washington. Cailee Spaeny’s character has a very fascinating internal struggle with faith that I also wish we spent more time on. However, alongside the previously mentioned larger characters in the film, both Josh Brolin and Glenn Close deliver memorable performances as well in their more significant supporting roles.
Whereas the first Knives Out was about class and race warfare, Glass Onion was about power and corruption, and Wake Up Dead Man focuses on faith. This movie is soaked in religion, using it in a way that parallels current political figures, showcasing the weaponization of faith. This movie is also slightly darker than the previous films, but Wake Up Dead Man is still incredibly funny with meta references and plenty of laugh out loud moments throughout. The movie is sharply written and possibly the best of the 3 Knives Out films.
Director Rian Johnson has said he’d like to do more of these films in the future as long as they can find a good story to tell. I say let’s do it! These are fun murder mysteries with great casts, and I would love to follow Benoit Blanc past this initial Knives Out trilogy.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is now playing in select theaters and releases on Netflix December 12th.
