‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - A Boring Whodunit

I imagine devout Christians will feel as if they are having a heart attack while watching Rian Johnson's Wake Up Dead Man. A woman, after all, defiles a church's premises, while a man smashes a miniature statue of Jesus with a heavy object. But if those people stay with the film until the end, they will realize that Johnson is not merely provoking them. Sure, he tries to be a bad boy with a smirk on his face. He also, however, targets fake priests who deliver incendiary speeches and exploit people's faith (you can replace these "priests" with public figures like influencers or politicians). For all its images of Catholic desecration, Wake Up Dead Man ultimately ends up celebrating Christian values of kindness and compassion. It locates God within affectionate humans—humans who can forgive and forget. No wonder, then, that the main character is a priest who, despite his anger issues, believes in the power of Christ to heal him and others. All in all, stay with Johnson until the end, and you will see him endowing Jesus not with a heart of gold but with a heart of diamond.

For Johnson, the Knives Out movies are a form of rejuvenation. For the foreseeable future, he wants to focus on this franchise, which he considers a tribute to Agatha Christie's novels. And what about Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc? He is Johnson's Jesus, introduced in Wake Up Dead Man as the answer to a prayer. With his long hair and beard, Blanc does resemble, at least from the outside, the Messiah who was hanged on the cross. He also displays empathy toward the killer during the climax. Craig's charm alone can keep these movies afloat, though it certainly helps that he is joined by a talented cast with a strong screen presence. Among them, the most memorable performer turns out to be Kerry Washington. With brooding eyes and a cigarette in hand, she exudes authority, mystery, and temptation. She steals the spotlight, drawing your attention simply by being present.

It is, of course, a pity that the movie doesn't give Washington more to do. The same can be said about Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Andrew Scott, Glenn Close, and Jeremy Renner. Johnson relies too heavily on his actors' "presence" instead of giving them meaty roles that leave an indelible impression. Scott is funny, and Josh Brolin adds fine layers to his performance, but nothing they do feels new, challenging, or fresh. Close has fun hamming it up as a devoted woman of the Church before turning emotional, but the excitement she brings is nonetheless minor. What renders this third Knives Out installment dull is Johnson's inability to let his actors bounce off one another. They all seem to exist in isolation, as if they were filmed separately and placed together later using VFX. Johnson, alas, is too preoccupied with churning out twists and turns. He doesn't seem to realize that the sentimentality he pours onto the film at the end feels like a betrayal of the scurrilous humor that gives Wake Up Dead Man its levity—its agreeable, crowd-pleasing comic charge. The result is a whodunit in which characters are puppets and the dialogue is simply one exposition dump after another. You get the impression of watching a static murder mystery, one that bores you with its monotonous rhythms. Johnson may have enjoyed making Wake Up Dead Man, but I was worn out by the end. Wake Up Dead Film is what I muttered while watching it, and I think it is a more appropriate title for this sequel. 

Final Score- [4/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times