REVIEW:
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is by far the worst of the three Knives Out films. It’s a fine movie, to be sure, but when compared to the fantastic heavy hitters that were the first two films, this one can’t even compete. The original Knives Out film was a perfect thriller set in a creepy old mansion, filled with terrifically despicable characters. The sequel, Glass Onion, somehow managed to be nearly as good, and did this by completely going in a different direction, setting itself at a sort of compound on a deserted island, filled with a bunch of characters on an organized vacation. That movie featured a staged murder mystery game gone wrong.
For the third movie, the ideas aren’t nearly as much fun. What we have for our backdrop is a Church where a Preacher has a small following of returning members, that come and listen to his sermons on a regular basis. Each of the characters gets something different out of going to Church, and has their own life issues going on outside of the Church. None of this sounds especially exciting, and that’s because it’s not. The characters aren’t great, and their stories aren’t great. What keeps this movie afloat are the performances by the leads. Josh O’Connor (Challengers,) is the protagonist, playing a priest who comes to help out in the Church, and he’s the fish out of water character whose perspective the audience takes on. The actor is great in the role, really helping the audience relate to what’s happening around him. Then there’s Josh Brolin as the Monsenier himself, the man who is in charge of the Church and gives his own, out-there, sermons that tend to drive away anyone who isn’t already a follower of his. Brolin is also great here. The two of them, plus writer – director Ryan Johnson’s usual level of humor all work nicely throughout the film.
What doesn’t work as well is the mystery and the list of suspects. For starters, the mystery doesn’t even happen until about thirty minutes into the film. We don’t really see Benoit Blanc, the character who is the connective tissue of these movies, and generally the star of them, until about the halfway point. All of these things are the movie taking a risk, but that doesn’t mean they are the right move. There is a mystery that needs to be solved, to be sure, but unlike the other films, that clues aren’t really there, and the ending doesn’t tie everything up so neatly. The movie is fine, and enojoyable, but the other movies reached true excellence, with both of them being among the best films od their year. This one doesn’t even crack the top ten list. It’s hard to make three great movies of a series in a row. It’s hard to even make two. This series somehow did it with two, but by the third one, the well finally ran dry,