‘I’ ON CULTURE
Perhaps the most interesting drama I saw in 2025 was a Netflix film. Wake up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is the third in the Knives Out series and the most thought-provoking. The films revolve around the work of master detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) and feature an all-star cast of possible murder suspects to ensure that you will not base any guesses on the status of the performers. The first of the movies by director/writer Rian Johnson was exceptional. The second, not in the same class but not bad. The new one is excellent and deals not only with murder but with morality.
Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), a priest who was once a boxer, is assigned as assistant pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, after punching out one of his deacons. That parish is led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), whose grandfather forced his mother to stay at the church while pregnant because he promised she would receive his inheritance. That inheritance, said to be a fortune, disappeared, and she ransacked the church looking for it, destroying its crucifix. Talk about symbolism!
So, the monsignor preaches fire and brimstone, driving away all but a handful of followers, while Father Jud tries to preach love. Then Wicks is murdered, and Jud is suspected by Police Chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis), who calls on Blanc to investigate. Then they look at the key members of the congregation, all of whom were present at the time. That includes lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington) and her adopted son Cy (Daryl McCormack); aspiring filmmaker Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), an alcoholic doctor miserable because his wife left him; former hit author, now a failure, Lee Ross (Andrew Scott); wheelchair-bound cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), who prays for a miracle cure; church lady and secretary Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close); and groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church).
All the suspects, it turns out, have reasons to kill — and all have secrets. The real fun comes as twists and turns lead to revelations. This is one of the rare times when there can be lots of doubt, as we watch secrets revealed and more than a few betrayals.
One of the best things about the cast is that they are all great at “chewing up the scenery.” That means creating really meaty characters and really going all out. This is a great group of weird characters. Craig overplays Blanc slightly, but less so than in the earlier films. Brolin, fresh off killing half the living beings in the whole Avengers universe, does have the charisma to carry the role of hypocritical moralist. And no one in the known universe can probably chew up scenery like Close… and there isn’t a boiled bunny in sight. Haden Church was very strong as her lover with a twist or two in there. Renner also knows how to hit the mark as the twisted-up doctor. Washington and McCormack have a really strange relationship, one even more twisted than either realized at first. Scott is excellent at being tormented and ambitious. Spaeny brings just the right amount of pathos and repressed anger. O’Connor plays it far straighter, which helps set him up as a real moral force against the crazies here. There should also be a shout-out to Bridgett Everett in a short role that is hysterical and sets off the ending.
One of the things I really liked about the film is that it not only dealt with a murder, as well as several other deadly sins, but also with morality. Father Jud is deeply religious and very aware of his responsibility as a shepherd to his flock, while Blanc is an atheist who comes to realize that he often faces the same kind of choices while solving cases. The relationship between the two men is a key element of the film. There is a marvelous focus on what is right beyond the usual identifying a killer. A moral question as much as a “who done it.”
Although the movie did run for a short time in the theaters, it follows the general Netflix rule of showing up on that streaming service 17 days after release. Which means that if you have Netflix, you can watch it with no extra charge. It’s long, but certainly worth watching.
