When Rian Johnson decided to write whodunnits, I somehow knew we were in for a treat. Knives Out was the embodiment of sweater weather, especially with Chris Evans wearing one so well in the first one. Then, spawned a franchise inspired by murder mysteries like Agatha Christie, and the films starred top-billed actors playing asshole actors. No one has done it better than Rian Johnson, who writes and directs these movies, and this third installment continues to solidify that Johnson knows what he is doing.
Wake Up Dead Man, the third installment, now owned by Netflix, will tonally and aesthetically remind fans of the first movie and of how picturesque Johnson's directing is, unlike Glass Onion. Reflecting on the pandemic, when Glass Onion premiered on Netflix, I had one specific opinion: I was disappointed I couldn't watch it in theaters. Years later, I also did not particularly enjoy it because it decided to go for a much brandier, flashier, summer sequel to the fall, pumpkin-spice feeling of the first movie. This third one is almost gothic, which fits well for this threequel, as it is set in a rainy town with a mystery centered on the murder of an angry priest. Johnson uses light specifically to portray the doom and gloom of cynicism and the warmth and lightness of faith, anchoring the back-and-forth of the dialogue, which was so interesting to watch.
Laying it on thick with biblical references, the good old debate between faith and cynicism is all played out here in a very clever script, too. Spiritually, this should have been the second film in the franchise, which could have kept some familiarity before we blew the door open. The message here is also much more grounded than in Glass Onion, showing how far someone would go to twist religious beliefs to rationalize anything, even the worst sins. Josh Brolin's role as the Monsignor, who sees that people who want to better the world are too afraid to accept that life should be the way it is, or at least that is my interpretation of a particular monologue that Brolin delivers really well.
The antithesis to this is Josh O'Connor's Father Jud, who believes in the goodness of people and thinks that everyone, including himself, deserves forgiveness, embodying the values of a 'good' Christian. Jud, however, is not particularly challenged or defaced; instead, he faces a non-effacing point of view when Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc shows up to solve the crime, with his more common yet liberal view on the church these days.
I personally do not think this new whodunit is in any way being preachy (although I can't stop anyone from seeing it that way or using it as an excuse to avoid watching it). Still, with an open mind, it has more to say to anyone following any religion closely. Although it is still a good mystery with enough twists and turns that keep you intrigued, unlike Glass Onion, which relied on shock value to a degree.
Wake Up Dead Man has a specific statement on faith, with arguments within the script that make sense. This is shown off mainly by the actors, as mentioned earlier, more explicitly than the congregation of suspects, played by the ensemble cast here, who portray piety in different ways, more often bad than good. And I mean this for the characters' motivations as well as the choices Johnson makes when writing them.
As the third in a trilogy that does not have any connective tissue other than Daniel Craig's character, this is the perfect sequel to the original. As I have said before, it's worth catching it on the big screen, of course, because Netflix refuses to still release movies theatrically in a proper manner. The rest of the ensemble, which includes Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Glenn Close, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Mila Kunis, and Jeffrey Wright, is unfortunately the weakest set of characters Johnson has assembled. The runtime, at 2 hours and 30 minutes, flies by given how gripping the story was.
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