Just when we think we know what Rian Johnson is going to do…he yanks the rug out from underneath us yet again.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is noticeably darker and more serious than the first two entries into the Benoit Blanc canon. The original Knives Out skewered privilege and generational wealth while its first sequel, Glass Onion, expanded on those themes while yanking in a new, little-known co-star: the COVID-19 pandemic. This new entry, though, is a comedic mystery that you can feel in your bones. Yes, Johnson knows how to knit a compelling yarn and he clearly knows how to build characters with his ensembles, but Wake Up feels entirely different because he weaves through themes of religion, duty, and the responsibilities to your fellow man.
Seclusion takes on an entirely new meaning with Wake Up‘s setting. Chimney Rock feels like an island away from the rest of the world as we meet newly transferred Jud Duplenticy, played by a fantastic Josh O’Connor. Jud is a man struggling with using his compassion instead of his firsts (he is a former boxer), and Johnson explains how his own upbringing and his own correlation with his faith inspired much of how Jud grapples with his own place in such an isolated place.
Jud is mirrored with Josh Brolin’s Jefferson Wicks, the chuch’s vengeful leader who uses his flock’s fears to his advantage. There is a lot being underlined in Johnson’s dialogue and structure to allude to those in power who use righteous anger to create division. So much of Wake Up hinges on the thoughtful introspection of faith with nimble direction, and the direction doesn’t get the credit he deserves for making us chuckle and then allowing us to look inward. That scene with Bridget Everett is inspired.
Since Johnson is such a lover of musical theater (can he direct a musical next, pretty please?), I couldn’t let him go without asking about that deliciously fun homage to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. Do we share a lot of melodrama? Absolutely. Maybe Benoit Blanc has some feelings about the Jamie Lloyd revival of Sunset Boulevard?
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is streaming now on Netflix.
