For the last six years, Rian Johnson has been leading a one-man mystery story revival. After delivering one of the finest films in the Star Wars series with The Last Jedi (I will entertain no debate on this matter), his 2019 film Knives Out was an unexpected hit — unexpected because it was an original story, and an old-fashioned mystery at that. Netflix was so impressed that the streamer ordered two more of the films, which starred retiring James Bond Daniel Craig for an eye-opening $400 million. Even more surprising, they appear to have given Johnson complete creative control. The second Knives Out film, Glass Onion, was a full-throated indictment of America’s emerging oligarchy. But most importantly, it was another airtight whodunnit in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie. Meanwhile, in TV land, Johnson and Natasha Lyonne did two seasons of the Columbo-esque, mystery-of-the-week show Poker Face for NBC/Universal’s Peacock streamer. The show was recently canceled, but word on the street is the duo is pitching another mystery show with Peter Dinklage as the lead. Sign me up!
With the third installment, Wake Up Dead Man, Johnson sheds some of the overt satire that worked so well in Glass Onion. This is not to say that film isn’t funny — Johnson’s been dining out on his bon mots since Brick. But underneath all the one-liners is a thoughtful dissection of organized religion. Daniel Craig’s Southern-fried detective Benoit Blanc is once again at the center of a locked room mystery, but, perhaps befitting the slightly more serious tone, his accent is more Atlanta genteel and less Foghorn Leghorn.
The film begins with Blanc reading a handwritten letter from Rev. Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), a newbie priest who has been assigned to a tiny parish in rural New York. Rev. Jud used to be a boxer, but after he killed an opponent in the ring, perhaps not entirely accidentally, he hung up his gloves and took to the cloth with all the zeal of a new convert. His idealism, mixed with a quick temper, gets him in trouble early, as he kinda sorta punched out a deacon. As Bishop Langstrom (a dapper Jeffrey Wright) explains, the deacon deserved it, nobody is too mad, but they must be seen punishing him for his impropriety, so they send him to keep an eye on Msgr. Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin).
Wicks is a charismatic, fire-and-brimstone preacher who has attracted a hard corps of followers. As Jud’s letter explains, he does it by alienating casual churchgoers with harsh rhetoric, aiming to inspire a walkout in every sermon. Those who remain feel even more righteous and dig even deeper into their pockets for the collection plate. Some of the parishioners, like Simone (Cailee Spaeny), even believe he has divine powers to heal. The first among equals in the pews is Martha (Glenn Close), whose gossiping and scheming keep the others in line, with the help of groundskeeper Samson (Thomas Haden Church). Lee (Andrew Scott) is an out-of-ideas sci-fi writer whose next book will be a gospel according to Wicks. Vera (Kerry Washington) and her adoptive son Cy (Daryl McCormack) have political aspirations, but so far, they’ve been coming up short on the MAGA grifter circuit.
Wicks and Jud instantly clash. Their dueling confessions scene early in the film is a screenwriting masterclass. Jud sees that Wicks is running a long con, and it offends him deeply. He will soon come to regret threatening to “cut you out like a cancer” when Wicks drops dead with a knife in his back in front of a church full of witnesses. Police Chief Scott (Mila Kunis) tags Jud as the prime suspect for the murder, but Benoit, an “avowed heretic,” has his doubts and sets out to find the real killer. But is Wicks really dead, and if so, who is that emerging from his tomb after three days?
Like any good whodunnit, Wake Up Dead Man has slightly too many characters to easily keep track of. But that’s mostly to provide a bunch of suspects for our detective to sort through. O’Connor steals the show as the tortured true believer who is enraged by the hypocrisy he sees in the institution he takes so seriously. The film is wildly entertaining, with just the right mixture of comedy and pathos, and a subtext that is both timely and timeless: “To take someone’s faith and exploit it for money is the ultimate evil.”
Wake Up Dead Man
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