Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
When young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews.
Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, Esq. (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), best-selling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny).
After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.
As we first reported on ActioNewz.com, the first trailer has arrived, and it reveals more about what to expect from the conclusion to Johnson's trilogy. While the series could continue elsewhere, it won't be on Netflix, as the filmmaker is thought to have clashed with the streamer over its reluctance to give its titles a wide theatrical release.
Still, Johnson looks set to go out on a high if the first reviews out of TIFF are anything to go by. With 23 verdicts counted on Rotten Tomatoes, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has a glowing 96% score.
That's just beneath Knives Out (97%) but above Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (91%).
RogerEbert.com writes, "It is a film so rich in ideas that it’s the rare whodunit that seems likely to play even better the second time when following the mystery can take a back seat to considering how Johnson has crafted one of his best screenplays."
The only negative review comes from Paste Magazine. "It also suffers from so much narrative baggage that it fails both as the darker, personal story it wants to be and as the lighter comic escapade these films usually promise," the site explains, countered by a review from Next Best Picture, which says the movie "proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that when it comes to cinematic murder mysteries, nobody does it better."
As noted, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson writes and directs Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and assembles another all-star, award-winning cast that includes Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery arrives in select theaters on November 26 and on Netflix worldwide on December 12.