It’s been a long time since cinema has had a non-superhero lead character that the audience immediately gravitates towards, but that’s precisely what writer-director Rian Johnson has given us with Benoit Blanc, the enigmatic private investigator played by Daniel Craig. Though the Blanc series of films began in theatres with Knives Out (2019), Johnson subsequently made a significant deal with Netflix, making the following two films in the series exclusive to the streamer. Such was the case with 2022’s Glass Onion, and now Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
The log line: A baffling death inside a quiet church draws Benoit Blanc into a tense investigation where faith secrets and suspicion blur as a close community turns against itself.
Wake Up Dead Man features an outstanding cast working alongside Daniel Craig, nost notably Josh O’Connor, who plays Father Jud, a young priest assigned to work alongside the enigmatic and zealous Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (a fantastic Josh Brolin), who is murdered in a seemingly impossible way. O’Connor’s Jud is our window into Wicks’ parish, and you can feel his desperation to make an impact and bring the Lord to Wicks’ flock. Jud and Benoit Blanc make for an entertaining investigative duo, and their relationship is the highlight of the film.
There are many great actors in the cast of Wake Up Dead Man, including heavy hitters like Glenn Close, Thomas Haden Church, Jeremy Renner, and Kerry Washington, who all deliver excellent work. The big surprise for me, though, was Mila Kunis’s superb performance as police chief Geraldine Scott, tasked with quickly solving the murder of Monsignor Wicks. I can’t recall the last time I watched Kunis on screen, and I was surprised not just by how well she did in the role, but also by how she held her own alongside such a solid cast. The job of the police chief is pretty standard in a detective film, so I was pleasantly engaged with just how much the screen lit up for me when Kunis showed up. Hopefully, her performance in Wake Up Dead Man leads to more high-profile work.
Wake Up Dead Man runs close to two and a half hours, but it never dragged while I was watching. Rian Johnson clearly has fun playing in the world of Benoit Blanc, as does Daniel Craig, who might have a better time with this recurring character than he did when he was James Bond. Watching Blanc struggle with faith and his own religious bias adds some weight to the film, but never in a heavy-handed way.
If you enjoyed Knives Out and Glass Onion, you’re sure to get a kick out of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Don’t be surprised if it leaves you eagerly anticipating the next case for Benoit Blanc to crack.
