"Three movies in, Knives Out is really showing its range. After starting out with a mystery on a cozy New England estate, followed by a sequel set on a Greek island owned by an Elon Musk-style tech bro, the series gets much darker with Wake Up Dead Man. This time, director Rian Johnson crafted a locked-door mystery set inside of a small-town church, with a story that explores issues of faith and the divine."
"Each movie has had its own distinct style, but Johnson says there wasn't a master plan to explore each of these genres one by one. "I actually think it's very important that I just follow my instinct for each one," he tells me. "I don't want to plan them in advance.""
"I haven't really taken a breath and thought about the unifying factor. There are two things that I struck on very early with this series and served it well, and maybe this is connective tissue. First of all, knowing instinctively just from being a fan of whodunits, the detective is not the main character. All of these movies are anchored by a character who the audience actually has empathy fo"
Knives Out's three films traverse different tones: a cozy New England estate mystery, a Greek island sequel centered on a tech billionaire, and a darker locked-door case set in a small-town church that examines faith and the divine. Rian Johnson follows instinct instead of pre-planning genre sequencing, grounding each story in real-world stakes and personal elements. The films prioritize empathetic protagonists rather than the detective as the main emotional anchor. Wake Up Dead Man represents a more personal, thematically weighty entry that interrogates belief while maintaining the series' whodunit framework.
Read at The Verge
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