Written by: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner
Rating: [4/5]
When working within a particular genre and format, one must continue to find ways to freshen things up lest they become stale. A challenge for anyone staying within the same sandbox for a period of time. With Wake Up Dead Man, Rian Johnson makes yet another whodunnit mystery, and through this effort finds success yet again, not necessarily through the mystery itself but rather the overall theme of the story. A strange claim to make about this particular type of film, but one that holds water.
After hitting a fellow deacon, Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) receives a new assignment where he must serve under an incendiary priest in upstate New York named Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). After Wicks mysteriously dies after giving one of his fiery homilies, famous private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) arrives to try and solve this entirely strange case where logic proves difficult to maintain.
Hitting a home run in the first Knives Out film, Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig very quickly proved they’ve got a good handle on crafting a fun and insightful whodunnit film with a wonderful ensemble. It made it clear that as long as they have a compelling story to tell, receiving new installments of Benoit Blanc’s detective tales would be appointment viewing. Now, in the third one, Wake Up Dead Man operates like the previous films, assembling a cast of fun actors in another murder mystery, but this iteration thrives in a somewhat different manner. In experiencing this film, the mystery at the center does not drive as much intrigue compared to the emotional core of the story as Father Jud reckons with his position as the priest.
Where the other films thrived, this one somewhat faltered in creating a compelling mystery, seeing as the death of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks never really felt that interesting, but in this installment, we receive a fleshed-out lead character who accompanies Blanc. Starting out seeing his struggles at the seminary, Father Jud has his own issues he needs to work out, especially regarding his own faith and how he can serve as a shepherd to his flock through his vocation. The mystery, in a sense, takes a back seat thematically as far as what creates a compelling narrative throughout this film. This especially proves true the more Father Jud grows into his role within the community following the passing of the monsignor. Everything else feels like noise after he has these touching moments with his parishioners. Johnson makes a sound choice by providing such a focus on Father Jud as a character to the degree where Blanc completely feels like a secondary character. In the preceding films, Blanc operated as the lead, but here he takes a step back. A risky move and one that paid dividends in the end.
Having everything in this personal faith journey for Father Jud work out so well came to the rescue for the fact that not only does the mystery of this not really hold a candle to the previous films, but neither does the ensemble cast. Johnson knows how to put together a cast, and he does well again in bringing together stars of all age groups, but outside of Father Jud, none of them really make an impression. These primary suspects do not really have the juice in bringing the heat and humor the preceding ensembles produced. This happened partly because they did not necessarily receive the strongest material to work with, seeing as primarily everything that worked in this funnelled towards Josh O’Connor, and he delivered.
Johnson put all of the chips on the table and bet it all on Josh O’Connor pulling off the Father Jud role, and it completely made the movie. O’Connor perfectly encapsulates the rage he fights under the surface, as in his attempts to find the culprit for what happened to the Monsignor, he must also find himself in the process. Our lead actor conveys this struggle exceptionally well as he comes to his own and ensures that if Daniel Craig and Benoit Blanc take a step back a bit from the spotlight, we have a worthy character to follow throughout this whole experience. That’s not to say Craig did not have some great moments, as he truly does as Blanc, to the point where it’s becoming neck and neck on whether I feel this character, not James Bond, will ultimately be the character I most remember him for.
Wake Up Dead Man certainly presents an interesting murder mystery and characters worth following, but this feature unlike the other ones crafted by Rian Johnson brings something else to the table. The headlining component of the mystery and the ensemble cast take a step back where a more personal journey for our lead character takes the forefront of the film and delivers something meaningfully impactful. It evokes a different set of emotions for audience members and it demonstrates that Rian Johnson can continue to play in this particular sandbox as he continues to demonstrate his versatility and ensuring everything remains fresh.
