The Stream: Why does this movie need to be almost 2 and a half hours long?

The Big Screen: An outstanding Josh O’Connor performance and a complicated, twisty mystery.

The Final Bill: Another entertaining edition of the Benoit Blanc mysteries.

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Rian Johnson
Writers: Rian Johnson
Stars: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Jeffrey Wright, Thomas Haden Church
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: PG-13 for violent content, bloody images, strong language, some crude sexual material, and smoking.
Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
Production Companies: Netflix, Ram Bergman Productions, T-Street
Platform: On Netflix December 12, 2025

What’s up, Streamers! Every few years Rian Johnson graces us with a new Knives Out mystery starring the extraordinary and quirky detective, Benoit Blanc. This weekend Netflix has blessed us with the third film in the franchise, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which has its particular focus on faith and the misuse of religiosity. When Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is reassigned to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude after punching a deacon, he clashes with the head pastor, Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin), whose fire and brimstone sermons have decimated the congregation. The church subsists on a small, but loyal group of parishioners until one day Monsignor Wicks ends up dead during a Good Friday service. All eyes are on Father Jud until Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) comes to unravel the mysteries that abound from this apparent murder. Praying and Lazarian hijinks ensue.

Wake Up Dead Man has all of the hallmarks of a great Knives Out mystery: a sprawling cast, a twisty mystery, a sympathetic central character, humorous dialogue and a quirky and confident Benoit Blanc. Josh O’Connor gets to be front and center for most of this movie, and his grounded and sincere performance is both funny and emotionally engaging. He is able to draw the audience into this mystery from the very beginning. Father Jud is a really good character that O’Connor brings vividly to life. Daniel Craig still seems to be enjoying playing Benoit Blanc. He has good chemistry with O’Connor. They spar back and forth about faith and religion in a way that’s not didactic but is illuminating about their characters and the story overall. In fact, there are a lot of characters swirling around in this movie and most of them get good moments. Unfortunately, despite the long runtime, there are still too many characters that get short shrift. Andrew Scott, for instance, has nothing to do. You could take his character out and nothing in the movie would have to change.

I could add that the setting is really fun and creepy, the twist and turns of the story are unexpected and intriguing, and there are some interesting lighting things happening in the background. There’s a really excellent scene around the midway point that highlights Josh O’Connor and the central thesis of the film. That scene is very touching and surprising considering all of the silliness that was otherwise going on. Anyway, I don’t want this review to be too long like this movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you like the previous two Knives Out movies, then you will enjoy Wake Up Dead Man as well.

Ultimately, Wake Up Dead Man is another great addition to the Knives Out franchise. It has a great, complicated mystery with fun character and funny moments. Josh O’Connor gives an outstanding and heartfelt performance while being a great companion for all that Daniel Craig is doing with Benoit Blanc. The movie is too long and has too many characters that don’t have enough to do, but the world is so fun and intriguing that you won’t be disappointed. Grab a big box of popcorn.