‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ Review: Should You Go See In Theaters?

The latest installment of the Knives Out franchise, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, is now in its limited theatrical run (see all theaters playing here) ahead of its Netflix streaming premiere in December, but should you make the trek out to watch it?

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won 2nd place for the People’s Choice Award, Wake Up Dead Man is the third installment of the Knives Out whodunnit franchise from Oscar-nominated writer/director Rian Johnson, the 2nd to be exclusively distributed by Netflix after its mammoth $450 million rights deal signed in 2021.

Stunning Hollywood with such a deal, the 2nd Knives Out film, 2022’s Glass Onion, had a ton of expectations. Could it be a repeat Oscar contender? Will audiences care as much if it doesn’t have a more robust theatrical release? Will this be exactly what Netflix needed as a studio starved for a successful franchise?

After that film saw audiences giving strong support for its limited run in theaters (reportedly 15 million for 1 week in only 600 theaters), Glass Onion also did impressive numbers on the platform (90 million households in its first week) and repeated as an award season contender garnering another Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

For added resume padding, in between Glass Onion and this new Knives Out film, Rian Johnson doubled down on his ability to craft indelible crime solvers by making 2 seasons of the critically acclaimed Peacock series Poker Face with neo-Columbo BS detector Charlie Cale played by Natasha Lyonne, proving further that his gift for darkly comedic sleuthing seems to have no limits on big screens and small.

So what DOES Johnson need to prove with Wake Up Dead Man? That the well hasn’t run dry? Is Benoit Blanc and the exceptional cast he’s surrounded by worth returning to every few years for as long as he wants?

After seeing this film myself in a sold-out screening at the Woodstock Film Festival back in mid-October, the answers to those questions were returned in laughs and cheers from an enthusiastic crowd that night, including yours truly.

Back with another entertaining crowd pleaser ready to captivate the Netflix faithful, Johnson aims his sights at organized religion, faith, legacy, corruption, and the “impossible crime” as he pens a most intriguing, highly entertaining, laugh out loud script with an always impressive cast of characters led by Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin and maybe the most expansive use of Benoit Blanc yet played once again by Daniel Craig.

Inspired by the works of John Dickson Carr, Edgar Allan Poe, & of course Agatha Christie, the story focuses on a locked-door mystery of biblical proportion: at an Upstate New York parish, an intensely conservative and volatile religious figure, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Brolin), and a young, passionate priest overcoming a violent past, Reverend Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor), sent to assist him becoming increasingly more at odds as it becomes clear that all is not well in the pews. After a sudden and seemingly inconceivable murder occurs, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Black Swan’s Mila Kunis) to join forces with Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.

With some tinges of gothic horror and a fire & brimstone level performance by Brolin at the center of the story, Wake Up Dead Man has the veneer of a darker, more intense meditation on the current state of cult like figures raking our culture over the coals to weed out the weak in favor of the true believers, but, in practice, the film falls into Johnson’s comfortable register, a family drama filled with corrupt figures angling for more wealth and power; only this time, the change in tone and tenor follow the lead of Benoit Blanc himself. Johnson gives Craig his meatiest version of the excitable, charismatic detective yet, attempting to capture a bit of Brolin’s thunder with a more theatrical & more comedic execution than we’ve seen in the past. Pulling back the curtain on process and dancing in the details, Craig’s version of Blanc in this film seems to delight in the tragedy while he lets the motley crew hang themselves one by one. This “cheshire cat” creation may just be my favorite version of Blanc to date.

As with every Knives Out film, the cast is impressively deep, well beyond Craig as ringmaster, with an unreal list of stars ranging from those on the precipice of stardom like Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Mastermind) to the dominating veteran presence of a Josh Brolin (Weapons, Dune, Thanos!) or Glenn Close (we’ll get you that Oscar you deserve real soon!). While O’Connor & Close have been mentioned as possible Awards season hopefuls in their respective acting categories, Josh Brolin OWNS this movie for incredibly long stretches, holding court as the matriarch, the asshole, the chaos agent, and the false prophet all in one. His scenes with Josh O’Connor in the early stages of their relationship set the tone for the level of big laughs and playfulness that we were in store for despite the sincere examination of what faith looks like in the modern age on full display.

While Rian Johnson may have fewer questions and expectations this time around, Wake Up Dead Man answers to all of them anyway with one word: Undeniable. As he loves to name his films after massive rock bands’ deeper cuts (Radiohead, The Beatles, and now U2), I’ll describe him in these terms: he’s a hitmaker who saves his most radio-friendly tunes for his biggest stage. The Knives Out films continue to be the most consistently entertaining franchise going with a curious and thoughtful creator behind it all. Try to catch this one in theaters if you can. There’s nothing like the reactions and engagement that these films provide in a theater full of devoted fans of the franchise. Amen to that.

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Watch Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery If You Liked

• Knives Out
• Glass Onion
• Poker Face
• Sherlock Holmes (2009)

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MVP of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Josh Brolin as Monsignor Jefferson Wicks

In his post-Thanos life, Josh Brolin seems to be equal parts inescapable and prolific as he dances between major movie franchises, talented director showcases, & prestige TV. In 2025 alone, he captivated audiences as an enraged parent looking for answers in the horror smash hit Weapons, he loomed large as the smug puppet master producer in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, and gives maybe his best role as Monsignor Jefferson Wicks in Rian Johnson’s 3rd Knives Out film Wake Up Dead Man.

Brolin’s bold & brash performance makes him the heliocentric character needed to draw the attention away from the found family of conspirators plotting to take him out. Comedically crass to the assistant he never wanted, venomous to those who dare enter his church, & domineering as the leader of his most loyal subjects, Brolin combines his incredible range and commanding presence to give the movie the complicated villain it needed.

Named for a U2 song that asks if there’s “an order in all this disorder”, Wake Up Dead Man delivers a sermon of faith, fanaticism, & fun that guides its audience away from the dark with more humor & hijinks than past Knives Out films. Brolin, O’Connor, Close, & a more expressive and playful Daniel Craig will leave you begging for another Rian Johnson film as soon as possible.