Wake Up Dead Man is a magnificent film which uses the well-versed tropes of a murder mystery story to provide a deeply thoughtful investigation into the chasmic topic of religion.
The third entry in the Benoit Blanc trilogy, following Knives Out and Glass Onion, it is perhaps the most heartfelt of the trio. While most of the movie delivers on the fun murder mystery romp that makes the first two a success, it is the rare but truly deserved moments of emotional gut punch that make Wake Up Dead Man such a winner.
Josh O’Connor stars as former boxer turned priest Jud Duplenticy as he is sent to work at a new church under the guidance of Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin). It is a wild ride trying to make sense of our new protagonist and deduce whether we can trust what he says. O’Connor’s infectious charisma lends itself perfectly to the role of Jud.
Daniel Craig is excellent as ever as Benoit Blanc. I truly hope that he will continue to reprise the role for as long as he and Johnson wish to make these films. He could be easily dropped into any setting for a brilliant story.
Once again, director-writer Rian Johnson has struck the perfect balance of paying homage to the classics of the murder mystery genre while also finding something new to say. Wake Up Dead Man does not seek to shy away from its influences, literally displaying a recommended reading list of murder mystery novels at one point in the film, and does an excellent job of bringing them into the twenty-first century. Johnson has never been afraid of situating his work in the present day, this time featuring knock-out jokes about Substack and election campaigns.
For how considered this film is, you might be worried that Johnson has chosen the serious path over the laughs of the previous movies in the series. Never fear: amongst the emotions of Wake Up Dead Man, the film still contains many genuine laugh out loud moments.
The gothic sensibility that was present in the first two films remains strong in Wake Up Dead Man. All three films have explored the obsessive and isolated notion of a house which contains as many quirks and secrets as any of the human characters in the story. In this entry, it is the church itself, a gloomy figure which haunts the entire narrative.
Wake Up Dead Man has the strongest cinematography of the three films. It is a truly beautiful film in a visual sense. I am especially glad that I made the effort of catching it during its limited cinematic release window. Johnson and cinematographer Steve Yedlin have composed this film shot by shot with an extreme sense of care. It does not give the impression of a cost-cutting direct-to-streaming movie that slapped a bunch of close-ups together; instead, it presents itself as a carefully considered visual feast.
Paired well with Yedlin’s cinematography, the film is wonderfully lit by Jaron Presant. These efforts are especially well appreciated given the metaphorical resonance of light within Christianity. In a similar vein to Glass Onion, there is one particularly brilliant moment on the edge of the forest during the climax of the film where lighting is used to evoke a hauntingly beautiful and creepy tone.
I am sure I am not alone in the fact that I have spent a large part of my life asking questions about the place and value of religion in society. The decision to make a murder mystery movie about religion feels almost natural when you consider the centrality of the question of death in both of those canons. Wake Up Dead Man is both critical and encouraging of Christianity in different moments. It presents a deeply complicated and moving picture of all that Christianity encompasses. Wake Up Dead Man does not pretend to know the answers to these gigantic questions, but acknowledges the importance and necessity of asking them anyway.
Potentially the only criticism of Wake Up Dead Man is that several of its ensemble characters do not have as much importance as in previous Benoit Blanc entries. The film is more focused on those directly involved in running the church as opposed to the litany of church-goers. Mila Kunis’ run-of-the-mill local detective character does not add much to Blanc’s efforts.
Rating: Highly recommend
Film: Wake Up Dead Man
Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig (Benoit Blanc), Josh O’Connor (Reverend Jud Duplenticy), Glenn Close (Martha Delacroix), Josh Brolin (Monsignor Jefferson Wicks), Mila Kunis (Geraldine Scott), Jeremy Renner (Dr Nat Sharp), Kerry Washington (Vera Draven), Andrew Scott (Lee Ross), Cailee Spaeny (Simone Vivane), Daryl McCormack (Cy Draven), Thomas Haden Church (Samson Holt) and Jeffrey Wright (Langstrom)
Release Date: 12 December 2025
Distributor: Netflix