When the first Knives Out movie came out it in 2019 was a breath of fresh air. A new murder mystery movie in the style of Agatha Christie, with a bit more comedy added in. Bringing a fantastic ensemble of characters and the who’s who of Hollywood to the screen. Even Glass Onion in 2022 brought a goofy, albeit somewhat reduced mystery to the screen. But the newest in the Knives Out Mysteries – Wake Up Dead Man, seems to have lost all of the momentum the previous movies had built up.
Daniel Craig reprises his role as Benoit Blanc, the self proclaimed heretic detective that is called in by the local sheriff to help find the killer of the local parish Priest. But as the mystery unfolds, Blanc gets farther drawn into the mess as he conceals more information about the case than he is willing to share. Blanc isn’t exactly Christie’s Poirot, instead he seems more focused on aiding the mystery and other murders play out than solving this one. The bits of humor that are tossed in help the story some but there still seems to be something lacking in the movie.
Much like the other Knives Out Movies, Wake Up Dead Man tosses in a lot of political humor and commentary about the current times as well. This time in the form of Cy, a GOP hopeful who spends his time live streaming everything happening at the pulpit and his life around him. The tongue and cheek approach to the political and societal commentary is a nice approach in the current polarizing times. But at the same time, in this movie feels out of place against the back drop of the story.
Wake Up Dead Man starts out relatively strong, and has a strong ending. It’s somewhere in the 90 minutes in between those points that it just seems to drag along the way. It could be the heavy reliance on religion to tell the story, or the constant focus on the corruption of the flock and the degradation and demonization of a woman as the basis of the religious teachings that started to wear thin. Of course, there are people that won’t have any issue with any of that, but for a movie that is well over two hours, it seems like the red herrings could have been thinned out some for the sake of watchability and run time.
Even with all of those issues, Wake Up Dead Man had a fatal flaw that the other Knives Out movies haven’t had so far – it’s almost too easy to figure out the whodunnit for the crime(s). It seems like the movie may have relied too heavily on beating simple points into the ground than considering the audience is actually smarter than they expect this time around. And once you figure out who is at fault, you’re going the bulk of the run time wondering what is the point of the rest of it.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is in Select Theaters November 26, 2025, On Netflix December 12, 2025
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About Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus. When young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, Esq. (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), best-selling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny). After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson writes and directs Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and assembles another all-star, award-winning cast.
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