The formula established in Knives Out and Glass Onion has been changed in Wake Up Dead Man. The series of good old-fashioned murder mysteries solved by gentleman detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has been a roaring success because they were mostly about fabulously wealthy people being held to account. Tweaking the formula is not necessarily a bad thing, as it’s always a good idea to keep the audience on their toes, but this time the punches are pulled. This failure of nerve means Wake Up Dead Man, while still being solid, is surprisingly not enjoyable.
For starters, Benoit Blanc is hardly in it. Here the star is a priest named Jud (Josh O’Connor, more on whom later) who has been reassigned to the small parish in Chimney Rock, New York after punching another priest. The congregation – almost entirely church wardens Martha (Glenn Close) and Samson (Thomas Haden Church), lawyer Vera (Kerry Washington), her adopted brother/wannabe edgelord Cy (Daryl McCormack), struggling doctor Nat (Jeremy Renner), author/conspiracy fiend Lee (Andrew Scott), and disabled cellist Simone (Cailee Spaeny) – are ruled by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin having a wonderful time) with an unforgiving rod of iron. Wicks takes great pleasure in making everyone outside of his chosen few, which includes Jud, uncomfortable under his judgement, and Jud tries without success for a more open-hearted and welcoming style. But when an impossible murder happens, local police chief Geraldine (Mila Kunis in possibly the most workaday part of her career) immediately hires the now nationally famous Benoit, who immediately decides Jud, the obvious suspect, obviously didn’t do it. But then who? And how?
Mr. O’Connor, whose career has been ricocheting from strength to strength, here plays a character as well-meaning and immediately lovable as Ana de Armas’ in Knives Out despite the fact that Jud killed someone as a teenager. Jud has clearly learned from his mistake and carries his commitment to being a good person on his sleeve, which even someone as anti-religion as Blanc respects. It’s hard to think of another actor like Mr. O’Connor who could so charmingly pivot between minor violence, desperately sincere empathy, and goofy comedy as Jud is pushed and pulled through a variety of mishaps without ever really losing his way. The entire ensemble does uniformly solid work without anyone being allowed the standout little moments that made the first two so much fun. The exception to that is Ms. Close, who is clearly gunning for an Oscar nomination with every choice she makes here, AS SHE SHOULD. But Mr. Craig, despite having two dialect coaches and a trainer mentioned in the credits, has very little to do. The choice to make Blanc so famous every single person already knows who he is removes all the elements of surprise from the investigation. The biggest laughs from his process both involve show tunes by Andrew Lloyd Webber, for pity’s sake. This risks turning Blanc into a character that puts Mr. Craig through the motions as much as he did with Bond. This is not what anybody wants. It’s Jud’s reactions to his new home that are the source of most of the light comedy, and while Mr. O’Connor is an enormous star and a remarkable leading man, this wasn’t supposed to be his show.
The real issue is writer-director Rian Johnson, who had so much fun cutting privileged idiots down to size in the first two movies, just doesn’t do that this time. Maybe he feared the consequences of a religious backlash; maybe he understood that mocking people trapped in unpleasant situations who find solace in their religion isn’t very funny. On the other hand, the Catholic church could generally stand to be criticised a little more, and it’s more than fair in a murder mystery series to judge people only by the worst thing they ever did. Audiences flock to these stories seeking the catharsis that we are unlikely to experience in real life, except here all those moments of catharsis are muted. Even Jeffrey Wright’s small part as a foul-mouthed bishop isn’t a cherry on top.
Wake Up Dead Man is expertly made, looks great, without an obvious weak link, but the without the glee from seeing unearned privilege knocked down several pegs there’s less of a reason to go along for the ride. Thanks to Mr. O’Connor it’s absolutely worth seeing, but the crisis of faith on display here should have been resolved first.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will stream on Netflix on December 12. It recently screened at the London Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the BFI London Film Festival site for the title.
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