Movie Details
| Title: | Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | |
| Director: | Rian Johnson | |
| Year: | 2025 | |
| Genre: | Whodunit | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 12.15.25 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (6)
- Brick
- The Brothers Bloom
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
- Knives Out
- Looper
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 12.15.25 | Internet | The third Knives Out movie. This one is religious, taking place in a small town church where the monsignor played by Josh Brolin dies in an empty room and his new assistant (Josh O'Connor) is framed. This is the first thing I'm aware of Josh O'Connor in (probably because I missed Challengers) but it seems like he's having a moment... at the moment. He's decent enough in this and certainly he's the lead so the whole movie's on his shoulders. Daniel Craig feels even more supporting here than the last, but my lasting memory of Glass Onion was that he stole every scene he was in whereas in this he's just kinda there. Uh, what else. the cast of suspects was ok. I feel like the calibre and character of the ensemble is stepping downward with each installment with the exception of Thomas Hayden Church who's little more than facial hair here but by god should be in more movies. There are a few good moves where sunlight pours into the church at dramatically appropriate moments. They went for a little more post-modern meta stuff with flashing a reading list of mystery books but I didn't feel it was as strong or playful of a turn on the genre as the original. And that's the problem of turning this into a trilogy or quadrilogy or ongoing series or whatever they're doing. By the third it's kinda the same as another season of a tv show? Not exactly but kinda? Like if Stranger Things gets 2-3 years between seasons and these come out two years apart? They're not produced by Ryan Murphy but you know what I mean. Where the first movie felt like a fresh take, this one is pretty by the numbers. Look, the mystery story was fun to follow along with. It's a nice ride. Is it a half hour too long? Absolutely (why is every movie two and a half hours now?). Was there too much religious faith yadda yadda for me personally? yes. Will I watch it again? Probably not, but it was fun enough to watch once. |
