Wake Up Dead Man (2025)

 

Starring: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, et. Al

Directed By: Rian Johnson

Available on: Netflix

Wake Up Dead Man is the third in the Benoit Blanc series of whodunnit stories - a film that once again showcases Rian Johnson’s gift with dialogue and clever plotting mechanics. It’s a film that, while not perfect, closes out what may be one of the highest-quality trilogies that you’ll see in modern film and also features a genuine starring turn by Josh O’Connor. It’s twisty, turny, timey-wimey and if you liked the first two films in the series you’ll almost certainly like this one as well.

As is always the story with these types of films (the Agatha Christie-style murder mystery), we first meet the players - which this time around centres completely around a catholic church in upstate New York, including the rather-bullish priest (Josh Brolin), his new protege (Josh O’Connor), the head of the church booster program (Glenn Close) and notable parishioners - among them, Andrew Scott, a right-wing author who complains that all of the people who sign up to his book signings look like Walter from ‘The Big Lebowski’, Kerry Washington - the ‘normal one’ (there’s always a ‘normal one’), Jeremy Renner, the town doctor-turned-drunken-incel and Daryl McCormack as a wannabe republican politician/right wing influencer of questionable parentage and upbringing. Others are along for the ride as well (Cailee Spaeny, Thomas Haden Church and more - Johnson always brings out big guns for his casting calls) but I could easily spend my entire allotted word count talking about the cast alone. 

The inciting incident (a death, as you’d expect) involves Josh Brolin’s MAGA hardliner, hellfire-and-brimstone preacher meeting an untimely end and Daniel Craig’s southern gentleman-investigator, the esteemed Benoit Blanc, arriving to town to help the local police chief (Mila Kunis!) solve an ‘impossible murder’. All signs point to Josh O’Connor’s younger (much more liberal, at least as far as catholic priests go) man in the cloth, Father Jud, so in a bid to help clear his name, he assists Blanc with trying to solve the murder. A lot of the fun in this film lay in the dynamics between Blanc’s avowed man of science and reason and Jud’s man of staunch faith. Johnson does well to toe the line to show religion itself as not inherently bad, if it is focused for the right reasons and Father Jud himself is painted unquestionably as a Good Man.

Now of course, the play is the thing with the ‘Knives Out murder mysteries’ (that’s literally what Netflix calls them, so… eh. I guess Agatha Christie’s estate doesn’t want Johnson name-dropping her) so we won’t get too much into the nitty gritty but suffice it to say, there are twists and turns aplenty - characters are not who they seem, allegiances shift and Blanc himself almost gets whiplash trying to explain it all - but I can say that these twists felt earned and (as is always imperative in a mystery) they did not break continuity or feel like a cheap deus ex machina. Johnson’s written three of these now (plus let’s not forget his debut film, one of my favourite movies of all-time, the incomparable ‘Brick’ was also a murder mystery - though much more a neo-noir) so he clearly knows what he’s doing. Any of the characters legitimately COULD be the killer, and when it plays out on-screen you find yourself nodding, “Okay” rather than throwing popcorn at the screen and crying out, “Come on!”

The Good: Josh O’Connor’s performance as Father Jud, a former boxer who turned to god in his late teens after inadvertently killing a man in the ring, shines above all the other (admittedly bright) lights in this cast. One scene in particular involves him making a phone call to inquire about a piece of information regarding the case. That phone call stretches itself out in an entirely unforeseen manner and as viewers see find new appreciation for Father Jud’s humanity. A truly lovely scene - and a high point in a fantastic performance overall.

The Bad: Daryl McCormack’s ‘Cy Draven’ is The Worst. A right-wing ‘influencer’ and wannabe politician with the most cynical take (and unfortunately all-too-recognizable in today’s political climate), he introduces himself as having failed in his first run for office despite trying ‘everything - the race thing, the gender thing, the gun thing, the religion thing, the DEI thing’ etc etc. You could honestly see him as MAGA’s next mouthpiece save for the fact that he’s a man of colour.

The Ugly: There’s a scene with a bathtub that’s… eugh. 

Is It Safe For Kids?: Ummm…. Suuuuurrrrreeee….? Late-middle schoolers, at least. Other than the aforementioned bathtub scene, there isn’t much to be concerned eith, save a few cuss words. It’s a cerebral murder mystery, so if a genre-savvy tween wants to watch it with you, more power to them.

The Verdict: With ‘Wake Up Dead Man’, Rian Johnson has crafted another deft mystery with a fantastic cast that will keep you guessing right up until the end. The performances are strong, Craig’s Blanc is as charming as ever (he once intimates he’s at least partially scared of immolating upon entering the church) and the cinematography is positively gorgeous (watch the framing and the use of light in the shots, particularly those that take place in the church - it’s classic Hollywood and it’s wonderful to look at). As long as Craig wants to make these (and as long as Netflix keeps driving money to their respective houses), I’ll be glad to keep watching. 8/10.