Master detective Benoit Blanc helps a priest solve a murder in Rian Johnson’s devilishly sharp Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, streaming December 12th on Netflix.
First and foremost: It’s wonderfully obvious how much writer-director Rian Johnson loves writing the detective-for-hire Benoit Blanc. It’s just as obvious how much Daniel Craig loves to play the character, giving far more energy and devotion to Blanc than he ever did James Bond. Now in the third entry, after Knives Out and Glass Onion, the pair have found a beautiful symbiosis in the murder mystery series with devilishly sharp wit and rapport amid another compelling and perfectly crafted mystery.
Rian Johnson is a master of his craft, and has been since bursting on the scene in the noir throwback Brick in 2005. He’s keenly in control of his narrative, working it just right; kneading the audience to exactly what he wants. He continues to move his pieces deftly – characters and clues – around, leading the audience just enough in several directions, doling out information at a perfect pace to keep everyone: Blanc, suspects, and audience, on edge.
He finds just that right level in making the puzzle of the mystery: all the pieces are there, some purposely obvious, some obscured or esoteric, but nothing is nonsense or unearned. My wife and I, in each entry, have solved SOME but not all of the mystery. Other aspects, we’re not sure on until a reveal, or twisted unexpectedly. Johnson sets up and pays off in many ways we didn’t see coming at all. But the details were there; we just didn’t see them, and we love him for it. We’re both English Language Arts teachers. Our job is to deconstruct stories, explore how they’re made, how the details build and come together. If Johnson keeps my wife, who usually does the Leo point immediately after the setup for both books and movies, on her toes, it’s well drawn.
What makes the Benoit Blanc films (apparently after this entry, the subtitle is changing from “Knives Out” to “Benoit Blanc”) truly special is how Johnson uses ingenious handling of mysteries to create highly entertaining and just plain fun cinematic experiences. The mystery is a solid base: the quirky, interesting characters, their interplay, and the world they inhabit are the draw.
Knives Out immediately made Benoit Blanc an iconic new detective character, joining the illustrious ranks of Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and, since these are comedies, Inspector Clouseau. I appreciate Johnson’s restraint in Blanc. He knows we can’t wait to see Craig come in and take over the film with his Foghorn Leghorn-esque accent, hilariously coy one-liners, observations, and actions. He’s a true Character, who could easily become an insufferable Caricature in the wrong hands. Luckily, Craig is perfectly suited, relishing the eccentricities and idiosyncratic routines of the man. He’s wonderfully intriguing to watch and listen to. But in being the familiar, expected element, Johnson holds on allowing Blanc to enter the narrative, allowing the story and characters to set themselves up and breathe before he whirls in and takes over.
The story this time involves a dead Monsignor at a dying church in the picturesque small town of Chimney Rock, New York. Josh O’Connor (continuing his illustrious year after The Mastermind, The History of Sound, and Rebuilding) is Father Jud, a former boxer who killed a man in the ring, who punched another Deacon, and is sent to Chimney Rock by a Jeffrey Wright cameo. There he butts heads with the head of the church: Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, a firebrand played by Josh Brolin, loud and outspoken and only inclusive to his own chosen flock. That flock? Jeremy Renner’s weak-willed doctor, Kerry Washington’s put-upon attorney, her GOP-political influencer wanna be son Daryl McCormack, washed-up Sci-fi writer Andrew Scott (good to see him so close after his great turn in Blue Moon), emotionally and nerve-damaged cellist Caliee Spaney, and simple groundskeeper Thomas Haden Church.
We can’t forget Glenn Close. Wow. Glenn Close is astounding as Martha, the obsessive church secretary; turning in a performance that me in the best ways of Cloris Leachman. It’s her best performance in years, after so many Oscar pushes, her unbridled but suited zealot to her church and fallen holyman (she’s convinced he’s coming back like Jesus… thus the title) might be what gets it. Fully deserved.
A fantastic cast for a fantastic movie, one of the year’s best ensembles. They play well as the tight, but fraying, pack of Wicks’ chosen few. I do wish we’d see more of them, for the nature of the crime and location, they get to go home and come back into the narrative when necessary, instead of the ever-present suspects of the other films; so in a few ways they are more shallow suspects than fully-drawn characters, but each of these actors is top-notch and makes it all work.
When Monsignore Wicks ends up dead during a Good Friday service, it seems impossible; a locked room mystery. Everyone blames Father Jud (including Sheriff Mila Kunis), but we all know it’s more complicated than that. As expected, everyone has a reason to remove the asshole of a church leader; and they might know how to do it: they’ve all read the same series of locked room mysteries in their book club, specifically The Hollow Man by John Dixon Carr and Murder at the Vicarage (heh) from Agatha Christie. But how… and why?
There’s a strength in how Wake Up Dead Man talks to faith, history, hatred, and what we carry in our hearts and histories. The well-drawn, inwardly looking characters, especially in Father Jud and Blanc, have fantastic discussion on faith and storytelling, without ever descending into the edgelord “this is all fake, harhar” religion talk; but instead an honest and adult depth that is throughtproking and moving, no matter where you might lie (me, I’m a “recovering Catholic” so I’ve had both mindsets). It’s also, ultimately, the crux of the film, the reasons, and the underlying methods. Of course, I can’t say more as the mystery is yours to see.
But the script is strong on all fronts. Not just that talk, but the sharp wit of it all. Remember, these are comedies as much as they are compelling mysteries. Wake Up Dead Man is often laugh-out-loud funny, with a bite. I appreciate how different each of these films has been: the house-bound family squablese, to the much wider and complicated Glass Onion (so many moving pieces there; fitting to the starter puzzle), and now the deciepticly simple Wake Up Dead Man. Johnson could have no doubt increased his scope, after the successes of the others Netflix would be bound to throw money for his vision (just look at Del Toro’s wonderously detailed Frankenstein) but Johnson wisely tightens to a razor sharpness.
On the technical end, Wake Up Dead Man is a delight. It’s an astoundingly gorgeous film. This might be the highest definition I’ve seen on my home screen; I wish I’d watched projected. Incredible detail with astounding depth, coupled with wonderful cinematography by Johnson’s every-single-time DoP Steve Yedlin. The look of the church, the light and shadow used to highlight key moments, and the woods outside with their deep passages. Chef’s kiss.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is yet another in an amazing series of flicks. Continually funny, often thanks to Daniel Craig’s exuberance in Benoit Blanc, but with a great cast to back him, especially Glenn Close. The mystery is compelling, the writing is witty, and the look is beautiful. I’m so glad Johnson gets the chance to put together wonderful ensembles around one of cinema’s current best characters in a new mystery every few years.
Wake Up Dead Man is playing in limited theatrical release and will premiere on Netflix on December 12th.