Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)

Rian Johnson, it seems, has found his niche with the Knives Out franchise. This is the third instalment, and, even only three films into the series, it already feels like a Christmas tradition to sit down and watch it as a family. The first Knives Out (2019) film was tremendous fun, and halfway through its sequel- 2022's Glass Onion- one genuinely begun to believe that Johnson was a genius, and had created a daring and thoroughly intriguing piece of murder mystery. But he instantly undid all his good work, and Glass Onion became a plodding and depressing funeral march to its telegraphed conclusion. The third instalment massively improves on Glass Onion. Daniel Craig has made the detective Benoit Blanc his own, and here he's drawn into a mystery when Josh Brolin’s Mons. Jefferson Wicks, a polarising church leader, is found dead under seemingly impossible circumstances during a good Friday service. The all-star cast is present and correct with Josh O’Conner as another priest, and Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Glenn Close, Daryl McCormack and Thomas Hayden Church rounding out the ensemble. Wake Up Dead Man retains the light humour that punctuates the first two films but approaches darker and more introspective territory- not least when dealing with themes of faith, guilt, redemption and human nature.

When Wicks dies, he leaves behind a congregation of potential suspects, all of whom, naturally, could have committed the crime. Johnson’s love for the material always shines through with the Knives Out films, but with the second one, the directions the story goes in reduces the film’s effectiveness. Thankfully, with Wake Up Dead Man, he’s back on form, and even though it might not hit the heights of the original film, this is hugely entertaining cinema. The excellent cast have an absolute blast, and everyone involved is firing on all cylinders- Brolin, O'Connor and Close in particular are superb- and more importantly you want to spend time with everyone who's on screen. The film also respects the audience’s intelligence and builds its mysteries around the characters themselves rather than magic tricks, something which hampered Glass Onion rather badly in its second act. Wake Up Dead Man isn't perfect, and in its final quarter raises some questions, but mostly its plot holes are glossed over and frankly, don't really matter. This is the film I was so looking forward to as Glass Onion approached, and I didn't get it. Wake Up Dead Man is precisely what I wanted; ludicrous murder mystery entertainment that doesn't insult your intelligence, while everyone involved- and the viewer- has a blast. 7.6/10