Daniel Craig and Josh O’Connor are divine in Rian Johnson’s third ‘Knives Out’ movie.
Daniel Craig and director Rian Johnson talk ‘Knives Out 3’
Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig reveal how faith and suspense shape “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”
- ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ streams Friday, Dec. 12, on Netflix.
- The third movie pairs Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc with Josh O’Connor’s Father Jud.
- Rian Johnson’s all-star cast includes Kerry Washington, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close and Jeremy Renner.
The release of a “Knives Out” mystery will usually elicit a “Hallelujah!” or “Praise be!” from film lovers. What’s wholly delightful about “Wake Up Dead Man” is the themes of faith, grace and forgiveness, that deepen the usual clever whodunit.
Director Rian Johnson’s terrific third case (★★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; in select theaters now, streaming Dec. 12 on Netflix) brings back Daniel Craig’s eccentric Southern detective Benoit Blanc but it’s Josh O’Connor, as an optimistic priest labeled a killer, who makes “Dead Man” divine. And of course, the all-star list of suspects is full of talent, too, including Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Jeremy Renner and a fabulous Glenn Close.
“Young, dumb and full of Christ” is how Father Jud (O’Connor) describes himself, a former boxer who punches out a fellow holy man and gets sent to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a church with a rapidly diminishing congregation in a small New York town.
Jud quickly sees why: The church’s charismatic but imperious Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) is definitely an Old Testament, smite-everyone sort of guy. His rapturous homilies send newbies packing, and Wicks tries to needle Jud from the start, describing his own go-to techniques for sexual self-satisfaction during confessions.
Jud and Wicks clash so much that, when the monsignor falls dead with a devil-headed knife in his back during a Good Friday service, fingers immediately point to the youngster. All the evidence makes it seem like a “perfect” crime, and that’s when Blanc blows into town. Admittedly a “proud heretic,” the infamous sleuth doesn’t vibe with Jud on religious matters but they do work well together in slowly piecing together what exactly happened.
Jud introduces Blanc (and the audience) to the shady, potentially murderous members of Wicks’ flock: a jaded attorney (Washington), a kooky sci-fi author (Scott), a depressed doctor (Renner), a righteous church administrator (Close), a loyal groundskeeper (Thomas Haden Church), a right-wing influencer (Daryl McCormack) and a cellist (Cailee Spaeny) who struggles with chronic pain and “a mysterious nerve thing” that Wicks has promised to heal. The stellar cast is rounded out by Mila Kunis as the town’s dogged police chief and Jeffrey Wright as a bishop who’s got Jud’s back.
Johnson’s “Knives Out” mysteries have reinvigorated the genre in recent years with a signature sense of humor that leans both dark and punny with twisty denouements. Yet while the first 2019 movie focused on a dysfunctional family and 2022’s “Glass Onion” explosively took on tech bros and disruptors, “Wake Up Dead Man” embraces a more intimate narrative. There’s plenty of murder, some gore and wild sequences but also a beating heart, via O’Connor’s character, that the others don’t have as much.
Played with underdog vulnerability by the British actor, Father Jud opens his arms to everyone and gets daggers in return. Yet when things look most dim, he still cares more for others than himself.
His presence unlocks a new part of Blanc as well: Armed with that chewy drawl and suffer-no-fools attitude, Craig’s character begins to see the world in a different way as well, thanks to Jud’s kindness. It’s an enjoyable dynamic that Johnson creates and the two actors are heavenly together. (Actually, O’Connor sparks with everyone, especially Brolin in some of the film’s funnier moments and Close in its most touching.)
Johnson’s screenplay riffs on the more toxic qualities shared by modern politics and religion – manipulation, propaganda and cult of personality, oh my! – and takes a balanced hand when it comes to spiritual and secular matters.
Even a complicated finale can’t dim its light. With this “Knives Out,” a few Hail Marys and a couple of ace actors absolve all sins.
