I often feel the need to watch a film twice. The first go-around, I’m just trying to keep up with the plot, as one does, and there are inevitably small details I end up missing. I’m a big fan of small details, so I delight in finding them upon rewatching the movie I’ve just seen. By then I’ve also sat with the story for a bit, and so the film experience feels even richer because now I know what to expect, and I can appreciate the film for its own self and what it’s trying to accomplish, rather than being disappointed because it failed to meet my expectations and assumptions.
I will be watching “Wake Up Dead Man” again, and maybe even a third or fourth time after that.
As a lifetime purveyor of murder mysteries and a childhood Agatha Christie admirer, I greatly enjoy the “Knives Out” franchise — the nostalgic feel of it, the heightened theatrics and shocks and suspense. I also love how fun the films are, despite the bodies, and I could wax poetic about the cinematography of each one, how director Rian Johnson and the film crew have created genuine works of art and set them upon a screen. I’m sure I’m not the first to say this, but Johnson has found a formula that works — a “who’s who” cast list, decadently vibrant visuals and compelling, original storytelling.
All of this remains true in the latest installment, released in select theaters last month and on Netflix Dec. 12.
The story that Johnson unapologetically presents to the audience — the relationship between organized religion and the wider world, and how the church serves, or should serve, the people — is a contemporary and long-standing controversy, one that Johnson himself has encountered in his personal life and decided to explore further in the media of film. Though he does not handle the script with kid gloves, he does strike a solid balance in his storytelling that will satisfy most audience members (you can’t account for everyone).
Like its prequels, “Wake Up Dead Man” boasts a star-studded cast, led by returning actor Daniel Craig in his well-loved role as detective Benoit Blanc. Also like the first two installments of the franchise, the film doesn’t rest its weight solely on big industry names — the actors do the work in bringing their characters and the plot to life, and oh, they do it so well.
“Challengers” alum Josh O’Connor plays Father Jud Duplenticy, an enthusiastic young priest who quickly reveals the deep strength and determination he bears under the surface. While many might look to Craig’s Blanc as the lead, the instigator, the driver of change in the story, there is little doubt that Duplenticy is the true main character of this film, and Blanc acts almost as his support — a foil, even, the rational skeptic to the faithful believer, though both are vigorously searching for the truth. If O’Connor was at turns repellent and enticing in “Challengers,” here he holds the audience emotionally captive as he grapples with his circumstances, his mission and his place in the parish and in the church, reaching — nearly in vain — for stable ground.
Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Andrew Scott — all delightful to see again on screen, like little “aha!” moments before the mystery drags the audience back again like a particularly violent undertow. Josh Brolin’s Monsignor Wicks — whom the actor has denied was inspired by Trump, though some might interpret otherwise — is overbearing and repugnant. Even villain-lovers would have difficulty finding a reason to like this guy, but that is part of Johnson’s driving point as the audience watches Wicks’s purposeful awfulness at work. The members of his inner circle form a motley crew banded together under the banner of a disturbingly charismatic man, to whom they’ve awarded permissive, unmitigated power and upon whom they heap unrestrained, worshipful adoration. Still, none of this dynamic falls flat. Each character is fully fleshed out, an intrinsic part of the puzzle but capable of standing on their own as well.
You could argue either Craig or O’Connor as the hero of the story, but if there’s one other blindingly shining performance throughout the film, it’s Glenn Close as Martha Delacroix. Close is fantastically gorgeous and utterly suspicious from the start. She’s the key to the entire parish, handling all matters for the church and Wicks himself — there isn’t a part of the parish that she hasn’t touched. More than that, she’s the thread running through the multiple, interconnected mysteries that make up the story — a role of vital importance that Close balances with brilliant understatement unto the very end. If Duplenticy is the purveyor of the parish’s future, Martha is the embodiment of its past, holding the last piece of the twisted puzzle in the palms of her prayerful hands.
There are several allegories put on display that one could cherry-pick from this film — Cy Draven as the prodigal son, perhaps, or the bastardized resurrection via Wicks and Martha. But the one that beats most strongly at the heart of the film is the greatest commandment — love. This is Duplenticy’s entire mission, immediately established at the start of the film, but he’s first led astray by Wicks and then distracted in his frenzy to uncover the truth behind Wicks’ death and prove his own innocence. This conflict arrives at a beautifully poignant moment when he’s on the phone with Louise from the construction company employed to open the Wicks tomb. Duplenticy is full-steam-ahead on solving the murder alongside Blanc and impatiently tries to cut off Louise during their conversation and hang up, when she stops him cold with a quiet, heartfelt request for prayer. O’Connor’s immediate change in expression and demeanor has lived rent-free in my head ever since, and stands out as a subtle yet highly emotional moment in the film that illustrates so succinctly the crux upon which, I believe, Johnson set the story.
“Wake Up Dead Man” is not an escape hatch leading away from reality, and I don’t think Rian Johnson intended for it to be. The audience is almost uncomfortably confronted with current affairs and attitudes at every turn — Johnson might be purposely needling fans, as if to say, “Don’t get too comfortable.” Yet, by the end, the film remains hopeful — determinedly so — and perhaps provides hope to those who have just spent two hours riding this latest “Knives Out” roller coaster. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
“Wake Up Dead Man” is available to stream on Netflix.
