The Reel Review
When a controversial Catholic priest dies during his sermon, all eyes are on the recently arrived rival priest as the prime suspect, until detective Benoit Blanc arrives on the scene. Josh O’Connor, Daniel Craig, Josh Brolin and Glenn Close star in this third installment of the whodunit franchise from director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Looper).
Like Johnson’s prior two Knives Out films, Wake Up Dead Man is filled with sly humor, plenty of plot twists and an A-list supporting cast – this time, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Thomas Haden Church, and Bridget Everett. But unlike the prior two films, most of these other suspects get precious little actual screentime, resulting in a more ho-hum mystery that frankly is more frustrating and convoluted than intriguing.
Acting-wise, Close is the standout, her kooky church assistant a throwback to Cloris Leachman’s Frau Blücker in 1974’s Young Frankenstein. O’Connor does a fine job carrying the film, especially in the first hour before Craig’s Blanc appears with his god-awful Southern accent. With an almost two-and-a-half hour runtime, Wake Up Dead Man is about 30 minutes too long, but is entertaining enough as it sputters to a not so punchy ending.
REEL FACTS
• This is Jeremy Renner’s first film since his near-fatal 2023 New Year’s Day accident near his home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he was crushed by his own 14,000 pound snow plow. The accident left him with a collapsed lung, 30 broken bones and a pierced liver and required a lengthy recovery.
• The body shown during the morgue scene is a realistic looking prosthetic made to look like Josh Brolin’s character, because Brolin’s physique was considered too muscular to be believable as the monsignor.
• Each of the Knives Out films has Daniel Craig reuniting with at least one co-star from one of his James Bond films. Knives Out had Ana de Armas (No Time to Die), Glass Onion had Dave Bautista (Spectre), and this latest installment has Andrew Scott (Spectre) and Jeffrey Wright (No Time to Die, Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale).
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