"When Rian Johnson borrows a song title for a Benoit Blanc ( Daniel Craig) mystery movie, he's never very subtle about it. Knives Out featured a literal wheel of knives, Glass Onion took place inside a literal glass onion, and Wake Up Dead Man ... Well, appropriately enough for a story largely set inside a church, featuring multiple priests, resurrection is one of the topics under discussion."
"Johnson's newest Netflix film brings together another outstanding ensemble for Craig to interrogate with his signature Southern drawl. The crime in question this time: The death of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), who was murdered inside his church immediately after giving a sermon. Upon taking the case, Benoit Blanc immediately notes that it's a textbook example of a locked-room mystery, meaning that the only possible suspects are those who were in the church that day."
"While Craig is first billed, he's never really the star of these movies; this time, the narrative weight falls on Father Jud, a young priest with a violent past and an ill-advised neck tattoo peeking out beneath his traditional black collar. It's through Jud's eyes that we're introduced to Wicks's congregants in the small upstate New York parish - a location far away from the blue-sea'ed splendor of the previous movie."
Wake Up Dead Man follows Benoit Blanc as he investigates the murder of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, who is killed inside his church immediately after a sermon. The crime is a textbook locked-room mystery, restricting suspects to those present: housekeeper Martha, assistant priest Father Jud, and a tight-knit, cult-like group of parishioners. Father Jud, a young priest with a violent past and a visible neck tattoo, becomes the narrative focus while remaining a suspect. The film examines resurrection and religious devotion, employs clever storytelling to subvert expectations, and shifts setting to a grey, gloomy upstate New York parish.
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