Photosensitivity Warning: There is a brief sequence of strobing that may trigger migraine or other neuro reactions from sensitive viewers. Be advised that it’s well into the film and occurs only once in the back half of the adventure. Less intense of a trigger are a few sequences involving police lights.
In the last few years, there’s been a beautiful resurgence of murder mystery titles. From Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot trilogy adapting Agatha Christie’s novels to Shane Black’s The Nice Guys (2016) to Tom George’s See How They Run (2022), audiences have had to the chance to be entertained (and hopefully challenged) as the protagonists sift through clues as they hunt for a killer. In 2019, filmmaker Rian Johnson (Brick; Looper) introduced the world to his own creation, preeminent detective Benoit Blanc, in the ensemble murder mystery Knives Out. Since then, Johnson developed a deal with Netflix to produce two more, the 2022 title Glass Onion and the 2025 title Wake Up Dead Man. Fresh off its TIFF 2025 premiere and a brief theatrical run, Wake Up Dead Man is now streaming on Netflix, available for audiences to enjoy from the comfort of their homes. However, unlike Knives Out, which saw Blanc explore the value of a kind heart, and Glass Onion, which saw Blanc hold up clear truth in the face of copious bullshit, Wake Up Dead Man presents a battle between fact and faith that’s not only highly entertaining, but profoundly moving in its quiet revelations.
If you’re interested in learning about Wake Up Dead Man in a spoiler-free capacity, head over to EoM Contributor Justin Waldman’s initial TIFF 2025 review. What follows will include mention of specific details best left unknown until one has experienced the film properly.
Josh Brolin as Monsignor Jefferson Wicks in WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. Photo Credit: John Wilson/Netflix. © 2025 Netflix, Inc.
After an altercation with another priest, Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is given the position of assistant to Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), the head of a small church in a small New York town. There, the hope is that Father Jud can soften some of Monsignor Wicks’s passionate views of religion so as to increase membership where there appears to be only a devoted core group of attendees. However, after nine months, not only is Wicks even more aggressive in his perspective, but seems determined to ensure that Jud is pushed out. That is until Easter weekend when Wicks is murdered in a small closet off the dais in the middle of a service. Tempers flare, suspects narrow, and, yet, it seems like an absolute impossibility that this could happen. Enter Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), an accomplished detective brought in by Chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to determine if this really is an impossible event, a perfect murder, or something far more pedestrian.
This is your last chance to head over to Justin’s review before we dig in. Still here? Let’s go.
L-R: Andrew Scott as Lee Ross, Mila Kunis as Police Chief Geraldine Scott, Daryl McCormack as Cy Draven, Glenn Close as Martha Delacroix, Cailee Spaeny as Simone Vivane, and Kerry Washington as Vera Draven, Esq. in WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. Photo Credit: John Wilson/Netflix. © 2025 Netflix, Inc.
Each of the three films released thus far have been about something more than just solving a crime. Knives Out is about the importance of being kind, Glass Onion is about the significance of truth, and Wake Up Dead Man is about piety — each of which are represented not just in the central figure of the mystery, but Blanc himself. Our first introduction to Blanc, he’s intelligent, inquisitive, and plays up the way the Thrombeys see him as somewhat of a yokel outside their tax bracket, while we also observe Marta (Ana de Armas) try to “get away with murder.” Everything in that first film plays on expectations and is the best of the three in terms of thematic elements and execution. The second, Glass Onion, finds Blanc in desperate need of a mystery and it’s served to him when Helen Brand (Janelle Monáe) arrives on his doorstep asking him to investigate the murder of her twin sister, Andi, which he does, using his celebrity to distract from her personal investigation. Another tight rebuke of tech bro culture, influencers, and political sycophants, Johnson gives us a Blanc who relishes the mystery, even when the solution is, well, “just dumb.” With Wake Up Dead Man, Johnson gives us a Blanc ready to peacock before Father Jud and Chief Scott, braggadociously addressing each part of this mystery as but one step closer to his “checkmate.” Once more, Johnson has paired Blanc with the audience’s proxy, a potential killer or possible innocent; however, this time, Blanc is given someone who’s not only intelligent in their own right, but aware that being right isn’t as important as being human. Father Jud is a person with his own violent past who turned to faith as a means of cleansing himself, not out of a selfishness, but as a sacrifice to ensure that others don’t walk the same path. This ends up creating a beautiful opposition for Blanc in a way that the prior stories never challenged him: what if catching the killer is less important than ensuring the flock don’t lose their faith? In the same way that each of the titles speaks to a specific element of their respective films, here, Wake Up Dead Man is as much a plea for the monsignor to awaken like Jesus of Nazareth as it is a clarion call to Blanc himself.
L-R: Mila Kunis as Chief Geraldine Scott, Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, and Josh O’Connor as Father Jud Duplenticy in WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. Photo courtesy of Netflix. © 2025 Netflix, Inc.
This is supported by the wonderful cinematography of longtime collaborator Steve Yedlin (Knives Out; Glass Onion; Looper; Brick; The Last Jedi) and Jaron Presant’s (Brick; May) lighting within the film. In the sequence when Blanc and Father Jud meet for the first time, the lighting in the church quite literally dims as Blanc and Father Jud exchange words. Executed like a set of clouds passing in front of the sun, the lighting doesn’t so much darken as soften, with Blanc’s typical energy filling the frame as he espouses his disdain for religion and preference for truth. It’s not unnaturally lit nor does the cinematography suggest a shift in power as the camera moves between the two. Craig as charming and spirited as ever and O’Connell effusive with the challenge his character’s presented. When Father Jud begins to speak in response, however, the lighting changes, as though the clouds have parted, bringing forth a sense of presence and piety upon the beleaguered Father (and inserting some amusement to those who notice the timing of the shift). It’s not that Johnson is suggesting that faith is more important than truth, that religion is the answer, but what Father Jud represents in regard to kindness, generosity, and self-sacrifice, attributes that link all three of the franchise’s proxies. The film pushes the bounds of its themes as it progresses, using the best parts of Blanc’s investigative style with absolute flair (such as the sequence inside the bar with Blanc flitting the photo up-and-down), but it never forgets that Blanc is intended to learn something, too. Here, it’s that being pious doesn’t necessarily mean religious, but virtuous, and sometimes that means forgoing “checkmate” in favor of being human.
L-R: Edward Norton as Miles, Madelyn Cline as Whiskey, Kathryn Hahn as Claire, Dave Bautista as Duke, Leslie Odom Jr. as Lionel, Jessica Henwick as Peg, Kate Hudson as Birdie, Janelle Monáe as Andi, and Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc in GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. Cr. John Wilson/Netflix © 2022.
Remember that mention of playing with the light in Blanc’s first meeting with Father Jud? When it happens again, this time the light shines on Blanc mid-declaration of truth, winding through all the threads that lead to the Monsignor’s death and the duplicity involved, but he stops. Why? He stops because he realizes that this moment requires more than the truth, that this small ensemble of Wicks followers don’t deserve to know it, not yet anyway, as time is running out for the culprit. In the moment, even with the reveal, it feels like a great deal of exposition (of which this film is more guilty of than the prior two entries), but the reasoning here is, at the very least, in keeping with the themes Johnson’s set to examine. Why does Blanc offer Martha (Glenn Close) privacy before the rest of the flock learn the truth? Because he knows she’s dying and that, as satisfying as it is for him to unmask the murderer and their reasoning, this, more than the other two prior adventures we’ve witnessed, is not a game amid the power hungry, but the response of someone raised in the church to be devout to a fault, making her more of a victim than Wicks ever was. We know Blanc to be kind, we’ve seen it in the way he points out to Marta how he knew she was connected to the murder when he taps her shoe toward the end of the film, and we’ve seen it in the gentle way he confesses to Helen an inability to do more than unearth the truth of who killed her sister and why (before he hands her the means of destroying all of Miles Bron’s (Edward Norton) property, including the borrowed Mona Lisa). That he not only stops his peacocking but encourages Father Jud to take her confession without explanation to anyone else does three things beautifully, simultaneously: it allows Martha to confess what she did and why, it allows for Father Jud to be given the opportunity to provide the kind of support to all he’s tried to do within this community, and it confirms that Blanc is more than the terminus of gravity’s rainbow. Each of them is given a form of closure in this sequence. In so doing, the script doesn’t conclude whether religion or atheism is the proper path, but confirms, as the other films do, that faith in humanity is restorative and right.
Three Generations of Thrombeys in Rian Johnson’s KNIVES OUT.
If there’s a problem to be found with this film, it’s not in Nathan Johnson’s score, his third for the series, or the members of the cast who are able and ready to play in the Blanc sandbox. It’s that, even moreso than in the others, Johnson tips his hand to the killer. The first film plays with the tropes of a murder mystery by having us follow the person who themselves believes they killed Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), while the second uses misdirection multiple times while putting things out in the open so the use of twins and spinning dresses cause us to see only a portion of the story. Here, however, in the midst of giving the audience the backstory on all the players and, specifically Wicks as grandchild of the original head of the local church and his mother’s moniker as the town’s harlot, he introduces young Martha (Cecilia Blair) whose violent interaction with Grace Wicks (Annie Hamilton) raises questions the town don’t think to answer but audiences will. At this point, the smartest thing that Johnson does is maintain Father Jud as our proxy so that when the monsignor appears to rise from the dead, we only believe it because we see what Father Jud sees and not that it’s really groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Hadden Church) dressed in the monsignor’s burial robes. Up until this moment, all signs pointed to Martha because why else would an adult woman so viciously attack a child? We’ve only got the town’s lore to go on and, it being a murder mystery means that everything is suspect and Martha is the one whom no one ever suspects, all trust, and who is directly connected to everything that happens in the church. She’s the one with the most motive to kill Monsignor Wicks for the very reason why his grandfather sought to prevent his daughter from ever receiving her inheritance. If one is paying attention, the answer is so plainly obvious that all one can do is try to enjoy the ride until the suspicion is confirmed. This doesn’t ruin the fun of the film; these Benoit Blanc mysteries are an absolute hoot worthy of several rewatches to catch all the details one misses, but it does place a pallor on the experience as typically they are harder to solve.
L-R: Director of Photography Steve Yedlin and writer/director Rian Johnson on the set of WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. Photo Credit: John Wilson/Netflix. © 2025 Netflix, Inc.
Now that the deal with Netflix is fulfilled, my hope is that Johnson and Craig continue to partner every few years to release a new tale. My other hope is that each time they never reference any other story we’ve seen while also teasing out mysteries we haven’t. Regardless, I shall be sat for any and all upcoming Blanc adventures because each time they seek not just to entertain, but to challenge, not in the sense of a mystery to be solved, but to get the audience to consider their own views on whatever world we’re being plopped into. It could be class and immigration issues, questions of ethics and greed, or, here, whether it matters if one is religious or not as long as they have faith. With this tale, Johnson has Blanc wrestle with this for our benefit so that we might consider these things, as well. So quickly do people gleefully unmask others on social media to climb the top of the charts and lord their mightiness until someone comes along who topples them over that one can often feel like cruelty is the only way to walk in this world, that reacting with raised fists instead of open arms is the truth path and, while it does lead to some aspects of control, it cannot be sustained in any real or healthy way. Instead, we’re better off finding a way to stand in the light and extend our hands with an open palm, offering help. Only together through kindness, not total victory or dominance, can we truly succeed.
In select theaters November 26th, 2025.
Available on Netflix December 12th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery website.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
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