Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
A pastoral whodunit solved and save by grace.
(SPOILER WARNING)
We should be more than trusting of Rian Johnson by now to deliver another staggeringly enthralling murder mystery with the wonderfully southern eccentric detective Benoit Blanc on the case. Johnson manages to shake up the pieces of a playful formula for each new instalment with his third entry decorated to an Edgar Allan Poe style of supernatural detective fiction with Wake-Up Dead Man unravelling in a dark consecrated web of faith and fury.
The mystery this time focuses on a newly appointed priest Father Judd played by Josh O’ Connor who has been sent to the marginal congregation of ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude’ which is run by the ferocious Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin) who has taken to preaching with fury against the sinful world around him, to the disdain of Judd. Wicks' sermons have called to arms a minor congregation who follow his every word, which includes the Church administrator and organ player Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), the groundsman Samson (Thomas Hayden Church), heartbroken Dr Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), Vera Draven (Kerry Washington) and her alleged wannabe self-made social media personality son Cy (Daryl McCormack), Andrew Scott’s disgruntled hack writer Lee Ross, and Caliee Spaeny’s chronically ill Simone whose faith is only held together by the promise of miracle from Wicks. All are what’s left of the Church as Wicks has alienated any sense of kindness and warmth in his Church to sustain angry upheaval in his inner circle, but when an impossible crime is committed during Wicks' service, the congregation are all witnesses and suspects to the murder at hand which is investigated by the local police Chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) and further attracts the curiosity of the truth seeking Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig).
The construction of the murder occurs in a confined space with no means of entry, where Johnson has fun making an insistent metatextual reference to John Dickson Carr’s The Hollow Man (1935), which crops up on as the Church’s book club reading list, or is it a misdirection? Not knowing where Johnson will spin the webs is the biggest joy in these films, though Wake Up Dead Man toes the line to a more traditional form of mystery, the misdirection here is where the emotion comes in to play which is weighed up by the need for confession.
Our lead protagonist is Father Judd who is on a mission for the soul of his Church after clashing with Monsignor Wicks' hateful preacher talk. Judd righteously wants to build a ministry that embraces everyone with open arms, as a former boxer who killed another fighter after which he was saved from a self-destructive cycle, now turned priest, Judd is desperate to share the same love from Christ that he was shown. Monsignor Wicks is cursed by a dark past in his Church which stems from the sins of his mother branded as the ‘Harlot Whore’, and a hidden fortune baited by his late- father Reverend Prentice Wicks (James Faulkner) has left Wicks in a state of bitter shame and resentment.
Monsignor Wicks' sermons are an unsubtle commentary by Johnson on the Christian Nationalist campaign that grossly weaponizes anything from the liberal agenda, whereas Father Judd encapsulates the impartial unconditional love of Christ for all. Johnson finds this relevant political outlet to pierce his crafty knife with, and while it takes some rickety turns, Johnson finds the true answer in the divide which comes from the saving grace of God. Benoit Blanc is definitionally an unbeliever who does not trust religion as it betrays his own philosophy of absolute truths, but throughout the case he collides with the virtues of faith that Father Judd proclaims to offer.
When Blanc has moments of sudden revelation during his sleuthing, the lavish glass windows of the Church make way for divine beams of light that shine over the characters heads in an exaggerated operatic fashion. Thanks to the wondrous production design, Wake Up Dead Man is the most visually striking of the Knives Out series so far, with a Gothically tailored dressing creates a nightmarish atmosphere. Craig is on top form as usual as Benoit Blanc, continuing to exceed himself in a role that could turn out to be more iconic than Bond.
Josh O’Connor is spectacular as Judd, with a seamless ability to play a fractured unbending priest with a physical discombobulation but with a truly kind heart. One of Judd’s most sincere moments comes when he is on a phone call with a construction operator who has important information for the case, but when the operator; Louise unexpectedly asks for prayer from Judd, he drops the urgency of the case in order to listen to Louise talk about her troubles and devote himself to a time of prayer with her.
The confession of sins is played as a comical free pass during a scene where Judd takes Monsignor Wick’s confession to hear an explicit catalogue of dirty deeds he has committed with a Catholic magazine. The audience’s gapping laughter at this scene highlights the exploitative view towards absolution, when an extensive amount of sin can be redeemed in one sentence, but by the end Johnson rightfully reframes the need for confession as a genuinely transformational process when the brokenness is unveiled, leaving heart opened to freedom from hate and welcomed by grace.
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."- James 5:16
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