Film Review: Wake Up Dead Man

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Director: Rian Johnson
T-Street Productions, Ram Bergman Productions, Netflix
In Theaters: 11.26.2025

The one thing I refuse to say to anyone who doesn’t like a movie that I liked is that they just “didn’t get it.” It’s the most arrogant and dismissive thing that a critic or cinephile can say to a fellow moviegoer, because it implies that the person is less intelligent, and discounts the simple reality of differences in taste. So it’s a hard and fast rule that I will not break. That being said, I tend to believe that people who don’t like Rian Johnson movies, including Wake Up Dead Man, only say that because they don’t get them, both because they aren’t very smart and have no taste.

Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, Casino Royale, Queer) faces his most head-scratching and soul-searching case yet, taking him to a rural New York parish after a

sudden death rattles the tight-knit community led by the domineering Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin, No Country for Old Men, Weapons). When Wicks is murdered, the prime suspect is the young Reverend Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor, Challengers, The History of Sound), a former boxer exiled to the church by his bishop and quietly burdened by his past. The investigation widens when a priceless diamond is reported missing, tying the murder to a tangle of personal grievances, hidden loyalties and long-held secrets. The congregation offers a crowded field of suspects: conspiracy-minded novelist Lee Ross (Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers), Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker, The Avengers) a cash-strapped town doctor; Vera Draven (Kerry Washington, Scandal, Django Unchained), a stressed lawyer and her politically ambitious adoptive son, Cy (Daryl McCormack, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande) who records everything for YouTube; Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction, The Wife) a devoted church aide, Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny, Alien: Romulus, Priscilla), a disabled former cellist and Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church, Sideways, Spider-Man 3), a wary groundskeeper. As Blanc and the Reverend sift through red herrings and conflicting stories, they must separate genuine fear from deliberate deception to uncover who committed the crime — and why the stolen gem may be the key to unraveling the mystery.

There are many reasons why I love these films, but chief among them is the often not-so-subtle political subtext. If Knives Out was the class privilege and immigrant erasure movie and Glass Onion the tech billionaire takedown movie, Wake Up Dead Man is, of course, a treatise on the judgmental, weaponized toxicity of modern Christianity vs. the actual doctrine of Christ. As searing an indictment as it is, the film is neither anti-God or even anti-faith — there’s a good-hearted humility to the character of Reverend Jud that I found to be quite soul affirming, and the quiet dignity in his unshakable devotion to his faith is quite stirring. 

Johnson is a master at creating atmosphere, and the small town’s vaguely gothic setting is overflowing with it. Where Glass Onion was clearly the “let’s triple the budget and really make it into a spectacle” entry in the series, Wake Up Dead Man is more of a return to basics, putting the story and what it has to say first at all times. The script sparkles with a mixture of snarky, cynical wit and moments of great sincerity, and despite a 144 minute runtime, the pacing is crisp and my attention never wandered.

While it’s a Beniot Blanc film to be certain, O’Connor’s Reverend Jud is really the lead, and whether or not it’s his best performance to date, it’s certainly his most endearing. In a movie that doesn’t pull its punches on calling out the pious, Jud still manages to put Superman into second place on most sincerely good-hearted leading men this year. Craig is irresistible as Blanc, and once the two become something of a team it’s a privilege to watch our best James Bond and one of the most hyped contenders for his replacement show that they are both so much more than that. The ensemble of unusual suspects is strong overall, but I’m hesitant to point to any standpoints for fear of spoiling anything (though it’s safe enough to say that Brolin’s is truly divine, showing us what The Dude from The Big Lebowski would be like if he worked for Turning Point USA.)

It’s a mystery to me why anyone wouldn’t run out to see Wake Up Dead Man on the big screen, but if you don’t make it, it will hit Netflix on the 12th. But please, try to see it in theaters to help Netflix get a clue that this is where its best films deserve to be. —Patrick Gibbs

Read more film reviews from Patrick Gibbs:
Film Review: Zootopia 2
Film Review: Hamnet