Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Review

 

Alright, we now got a brand new Knives Out movie. Glass Onion was pretty decent but still left a lot to be desired. So hopefully this one can bring us back to what made the first movie so great.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (or simply just Wake Up Dead Man) is a mystery film and acts as a standalone sequel to Glass Onion, which also makes this the third installment of the film series. Production was done by T-Street Productions and Ram Bergman Productions with Netflix in charged of distribution. Rian Johnson returns once again to write and direct.

The story is, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks has been murder in his rural parish during service, but the way he was killed leads to many questions. Master detective Benoit Blanc has been called in to try find out how the Monsignor could've been killed despite the unusual circumstances. His investigation will lead him to a world where secrets and suspicion blur as a small community slowly starts to tear itself apart.

Initial Reaction

Okay let's try to make this a brief story. The reason for wanting to see this is because I loved the first movie. The second one was okay, but it definitely had a case where it thought bigger is better. So after watching the trailer it seemed like we were returning to a smaller scale which I was definitely in favor of.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

The biggest mix bag stems from the characters. I'll start with the one that has the strongest writing, Father Jud. He has a great story of a former box turned priest after something horrible happened in the ring. Now he's put in this dark situation where he's will and belief is being put through the ringer. Then you have the other characters who don't have the same treatment. Blanc is still invested in the case and willing to help out a wrongfully accused man, but often times it does seem his story is taking a backseat towards Jud's. Meanwhile others have some story or just there to fill out the roster.

Pros

First I'll start off with Rian Johnson's directing. And what better way to start then showing you two great shots.

Despite how dark they are, they're amazing. But what makes the rest of Johnson's directing so good is he use of a more stylized gothic atmosphere, use of lighting like whenever light appears, disappears, or reappears through a church window, and some very tight editing.

The other aspect I want to praise is the much smaller setting. Whether you like the story or not, it was a wise decision to go back to a much more toned down mystery after the last movie still had a mystery but it's finale had explosions and other over the top elements.

The last thing I'll credit is the performances. But I want to give praise to three actors in particular, first being Josh Brolin as Monsignor Wicks. Brolin with his powerful voice brought an unhinged energy, along with his charisma that gave his character a lot of flair. Then we have Daniel Craig reprising his role of Benoit Blanc. Craig once again nails the character's southern charm thus continuing making the character very likable, and Craig does an even better with the film's more serious and grounded moments. But the biggest praise goes to Josh O'Connor as Father Jud. O'Connor is the show stealer. He brought out the Jud's earnest traits and when doing more comedic scenes he was great. But he was incredible when his character is struggling with his own faith, guilt for a past action, and a chance at redemption. O'Connor was the emotional core from beginning and to end and I hope he gets a chance to do more movies.

While some writing for characters could've used some work, Wake Up Dead Man is a fun watch especially since it was a more back to basics approach after Glass Onion.

My final rating is, Good.

So that's all for now. Sorry I uploaded this at a later hour, I fell asleep...oops. But anyways, come back on Saturday, Dec 20th, for my review of Avatar: Fire and Ash. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.