Watch Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery on Netflix
Written by: Rian Johnson
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig, Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Thomas Haden Church, Jeffrey Wright, Daryl McCormack
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
Benoit Blanc returns for his most dangerous case yet when a priest is mysteriously killed during a service.
Verdict
Benoit is always fun, and I wouldn't have minded more of him. I wish there were more characters chewing the scenery, or at least that they interacted more. I didn't expect this to touch upon religion, and that gives this a surprising amount of depth. We see two examples of church leaders amongst this mystery that turns, twists, and spins. With any mystery, nothing is ever quite what it seems, and this mystery creates a complex scenario full of incriminating evidence, motivated characters, and of course a dead man.
Watch It.
Review
This is the second sequel to Knives Out following Glass Onion.
A priest, Jud (Josh O'Connor), is sent to a small town church to assist Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin) after an altercation. Wicks is atypical and antagonistic. He and Jud clash over Wicks's aggressive preaching which drives people away. That seems to be the intention.
 |
| Josh O'Connor plays Jud Duplenticy |
Jud meets the most loyal church members; Cy (Daryl McCormack) a failed conservative politician that's surprisingly self aware of his message and performance, Nat (Jeremy Renner) a divorced doctor, Lee (Andrew Scott) a former best-selling author, Simone (Cailee Spaeny) a cellist with a degenerative disease, and Vera (Kerry Washington) a stressed lawyer.
The Monsignor has a strange hold on all of them, that or they all just see Jud as an outsider. When Jud talks to them about being more inclusive, the group only clings tighter to Wicks. Soon after, Wicks dies during a service. Jud is a likely culprit due to their differing viewpoints and circumstantial evidence, though he was preaching when the crime occurred which seems like a plausible alibi. Then again, Wicks's manner is to offend people which means everyone we've met has motive. Then there're rumors of a fortune which may have driven the crime.
 |
| Kerry Washington, Glenn Close, Josh O'Connor, Andrew Scott, Jeremy Renner, Cailee Spaeny play Vera, Martha, Jud, Lee, Nat, Simone |
Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is called in to put the pieces together. He thinks Jud is innocent, and together they question the congregation. The two eventually search for the fortune, but they're unable to find anything conclusive. They're searching for Eve's Apple as some kind of clue. I wondered if the nine-digit bank account and the fact that "Eve's Apple" has nine letters was significant, but it's just misdirection.
This certainly takes a twist, and at that point this keeps spinning such a tale that you question everything. The mystery at hand looks impossible, and as more layers develop the crime only becomes more complicated as we question everything. Benoit gathers the cast, ready to explain what happened before stopping short and realizing he's missing a key part of the story. That's when we get a new clue.
 |
| Daniel Craig plays Benoit Blanc |
While we've seen several clues that could help reach a conclusion, I don't know how you would ever put them together correctly. It's an impossible mystery, and there's no way to solve it. I wish I felt it was even possible to solve it, even if improbable or an illusion. With this movie, there's no aspiration that the viewer could solve this. It's too nebulous.
This also has a lot of characters. With fewer, this could have developed the remaining ones better. Part of what made the first Knives Out so much fun was the banter and bickering between characters. With this one, the characters are isolated. Despite all of that, it's an entertaining mystery. We see two sides of religion in Jud and Wicks. Wicks tries to offend, going out of his way. He never has the compassion we see in Jud. Jud is an example of redemption and grace, having become a priest after a tragic event. Due to that he has sympathy for the church members. He truly cares.
No comments :
Post a Comment