Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is Rated PG-13 by Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for violent content, bloody images, strong language, some crude sexual material, and smoking.
Review: Wake Up Dead Man
Ever wondered what would happen if a small-town church, a fumbling young priest, and Benoit Blanc all walked into a murder scene at the same time? And not just any murder one that’s physically impossible, spiritually messy, and socially charged enough to make you wonder whether reality itself has decided to play a sick joke. Wake Up Dead Man digs into that very nightmare, and Rian Johnson does it with the confidence of a filmmaker who knows exactly how to toy with his audience.
At the center of this chaos is Fr. Jud Duplenticy, played with a weirdly endearing mix of clumsy sincerity and accidental sacrilege by Josh O’Connor. Jud is the kind of priest who genuinely wants to save souls but keeps blurting out “holy shit” in front of his superiors. He’s the relatable mess in a collar. And when he’s assigned to assist Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin having far too much fun being monstrous), it doesn’t take long to realize this church needs more than holy water it needs an exorcism of leadership.
Wicks is a fire-and-brimstone blowhard, practically salivating as he tears into his congregation. He’s not just preaching he’s performing, posing as a pseudo-Trumpian dictator whose sermons feel designed to filter out anyone with a functioning brain cell. What remains is a stew of loyalists, skeptics too stubborn to leave, and a few utterly bizarre hangers-on who could each, plausibly, want this man dead.
Then a murder occurs one that shouldn’t be possible and suddenly the town’s police chief (a sharp, grounded Mila Kunis) calls in famed detective Benoit Blanc, now slightly older, bearded, and still drifting somewhere between gentlemanly incompetence and razor-sharp brilliance. Daniel Craig continues to play him as though Hercule Poirot spent a little too much time sunbathing and pondering the absurdity of humanity.
Tonally, the movie is a roller coaster: half dead-serious exploration of religious corruption, half riotous character-driven comedy. It’s moody without being oppressive, funny without undercutting its emotional core. There are moments that feel straight out of classic whodunits, only for Johnson to suddenly swerve into flashbacks, unreliable narration, or time jumps that should throw the film off balance but somehow don’t. The two-and-a-half-hour runtime glides by like a sermon from a preacher who actually knows what he’s talking about.
Let’s start with the ensemble because Johnson basically raids Hollywood’s pantry and throws in something for every taste. Jeremy Renner as the shady doctor? Perfect. Andrew Scott as a disgraced sci-fi author turned paranoid crank? Inspired. Kerry Washington, Thomas Haden Church, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack they’re all given just enough screen time to feel suspicious but not enough to feel safe.
But the real triumph is how Johnson stacks his mysteries like Russian dolls. There’s the central murder, of course, but also a buried family trauma involving Glenn Close’s Martha Delacroix and the twisted upbringing of Wicks. There’s a missing fortune. A church destroyed years before. Generational misogyny passed down like a family heirloom no one asked for. And beneath all that, a clash of philosophies: Benoit Blanc sees the case as a delightful game; Jud sees broken people he’s obligated to save.
Somehow none of this feels overloaded. Johnson juggles these narratives with the ease of someone who deeply believes audiences don’t need their hands held just their patience rewarded.
If there’s a nit to pick, it’s that occasionally the film stretches the believability of why any of these churchgoers stick around Wicks’ cult-like sermons. But then again, recent elections have reminded us that reality often stretches even further than fiction. So you let it slide.
If You’re Into…
Think of Wake Up Dead Man as what you’d get if Knives Out wandered into Fleabag’s confessional booth and then tried to escape through the side door of a True Detective episode. If that mashup excites you or at least makes you curious you’re squarely in the target audience.
Final Verdict
Wake Up Dead Man isn’t just another Benoit Blanc mystery it’s a surprisingly thoughtful rumination on faith, manipulation, and the messy humanity underneath both. Johnson isn’t afraid to swing at Christian extremism with a sledgehammer, but he also gives space for genuinely heartfelt portrayals of what religious devotion can look like at its best. The result is sharp, funny, occasionally brutal, and most importantly never easy.
It’s easily one of Johnson’s most ambitious efforts, and it pays off.
If you love whodunits with brains, bite, and a willingness to punch up, this one’s a must-watch.
Content Breakdown and Rating
Violence & Intensity: The central plot involves a murder and the investigation of a violent death. There are “bloody images,” likely including the aftermath of the murder. Expect tension, psychological unease, and scenes inside a church, graveyards, and possibly cryptic settings the atmosphere is gothic and heavy, with a persistent sense of gloom or foreboding.
Language: The “strong language” mention in the rating suggests there will be profanity and potentially aggressive or emotionally charged dialogue. Given the themes (religion, guilt, power), there may also be harsh moral judgment or intense confrontations among characters.
Sexual Content / Nudity: There is a mention of “some crude sexual material,” but nothing that screams graphic or explicit. It suggests perhaps some references or mild suggestiveness.
Drugs, Alcohol & Smoking: The rating includes “Smoking” so expect some characters to smoke.
I saw no specific notes about drugs or heavy substance abuse, though characters may have troubled pasts (grief, addiction, or trauma) but nothing indicates a focus on drug culture.