Rian Johnson started his filmmaking career with an indie Neo-noir mystery, Brick, with less than half a million. Who knew that he would go on to create a lucrative and popular murder mystery franchise that would rival Agatha Christie? Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is one of my most highly anticipated holiday releases that’s now streaming on Netflix.

While Daniel Craig returns as the brilliant detective Benoit Blanc and is technically the main character, it’s really Josh O’Connor who steals the show. He not only has more screen time than Craig, but he truly embodies the heart and soul of this murder mystery. This is the third film featuring O’Connor that I’ve watched in just a month, and he’s always incredibly watchable, no matter the character he portrays. The talented English actor takes on the role of a young priest, Jud Duplenticy, a man who found faith after accidentally killing someone in a boxing match. This past still weighs on him, but he’s determined to fulfill his new purpose in life: helping others discover Christ as their savior.

We first encounter Jud during the interrogation that follows the murder of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), who was the head of a parish in upstate NY called Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. The narrative then shifts to flashbacks, exploring Jud’s history and the reasons he’s assigned there as an assistant priest. Right from the start, the rural church gives off a strange vibe; there’s a spot where a large cross used to hang above the altar, and there’s a pretty dark and sensational story behind why it was taken down. The visual style is pretty moody, with a touch of gothic style. DP Steve Yedlin really knows how to use the natural light in the church. In one scene, there’s a significant shift from light to dark that feels really symbolic.

Having grown up Catholic, I immediately picked up on some amusing inaccuracies, like how the parish is run like a “family-owned business,” with Wicks’ grandfather supposedly ‘passing down’ the parish to him. In reality, a priest can’t do that since an ecclesiastical office is managed by the diocese. I’ll overlook that since this is fiction, and Johnson seems more focused on exploring themes of faith, belief, grace, and human flaws rather than accurately depicting any real-world church structure.

Brolin portrays a baddie with aplomb, as he often does, and Johnson wrote Wicks as a brash, nasty, and outright unlikable man. He makes Jud endure his repulsive confessions of repetitive masturbation, clearly designed as a show of power and to rile him up. When Wicks suddenly dies in a storage closet near the pulpit, Josh becomes the main suspect, given their previous altercation that was recorded by Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), an aspiring politician who persistently posts on his YouTube channel. Cy is a big fan of Wick’s harmful rhetoric about outsiders and his brand of religion as a way to mask intolerance. I came across an article that mentioned Johnson grew up in an evangelical Protestant family, and it pointed out how the contrast between Benoit’s firm disbelief and Jud’s strong faith reflects the ongoing internal conflict he faces. However, the spiritual elements feel pretty shallow and rely on clichés.

Now, while there are those who find the faith themes fascinating (me included), Johnson doesn’t alienate fans who come for the murder mystery. Local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) believes Jud is guilty, but Benoit has a gut feeling that says otherwise, and he’s set on preventing Jud from being wrongfully accused. True to the nature of most whodunit tales, everyone is a suspect. From Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), a devoted church lady and Wicks’ right-hand woman, to the smaller members of the congregation: attorney Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), wheelchair-bound concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), and best-selling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) who’s trying to win back his readers. They’ve all become Wicks fans for their own unique reasons. The only one who doesn’t drink from Wick’s kool-aid is church groundskeeper and Martha’s not-so-secret lover, Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church).

Initially, Benoic deems the case an ‘impossible murder’, which of course leads to delightful twists and turns. Craig and O’Connor make for an interesting pair as they play off each other well, which makes their collaboration quite funny at times. As a Bond fan, it’s also fun to see 007 and Felix, aka Jeffrey Wright (as the bishop who assigns Jud to Wicks’ church) in the movie together again. Overall, though, the star-studded ensemble isn’t as memorable this time around, and some are more engaging than others. Close is often over the top and not in a good way, while Kunis’s casting as a police chief feels a bit off. As for Craig, I’m not as enamored by his schtick as Benoit as I once was.

While overall this third installment is still entertaining, I’d say it’s the weakest of the three. The exposition drags on, with almost the whole first act filled with it, yet the characters feel underdeveloped, and some barely have any dialogue. This movie marks Renner’s first major film role since his near-fatal snowplow accident, but his talent is wasted here. Since their motivations aren’t thoroughly examined, the big reveals lose some of their punch. The mystery did keep me on my toes, but the thrill of guessing isn’t as enjoyable as it used to be. Perhaps it’s time for Rian Johnson to create something fresh that isn’t tied to the Knives Out series.

Have you seen Wake Up Dead Man? Well, what did you think?

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