SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Here we are again! It’s time for the third instalment of the ‘Knives Out’/Benoit Blanc murder-mystery whodunit film series, which I’ve seen on Netflix. It’s ‘Wake Up Dead Man’, once again written and directed by Rian Johnson and it stars Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc.

It’s funny I keep coming back to these films, as it’s like three years later after the previous film was made that I get to rewatch ‘Knives Out’ and ‘Glass Onion’ before seeing ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ on Netflix. I’m pretty sure the same thing will occur again for the fourth film.

Not that I’m complaining, as I’ve enjoyed these Benoit Blanc films when it comes to Christmas time. It’s also clear that Rian Johnson know how to handle his own film series compared to when he wrote and directed ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, which is very divisive.

With that said, I can’t say that ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ is a film I regard highly at present. That might change when it comes to the fourth film in say three years’ time. At present though, I haven’t enjoyed ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ as much as I’ve enjoyed seeing the first two films.

It’s funny how that happens for me with these films, as when I checked out ‘Glass Onion’ back in 2022, I considered ‘Knives Out’ to be better than that. Now with ‘Wake Up Dead Man’, I consider ‘Glass Onion’ better than that. It’s a fascinating pattern when you think about it.

Anyway, in ‘Wake Up Dead Man’, the film focuses on Josh O’Connor as Father Jud, a Roman Catholic priest who arrives in a quaint small town in the hope of serving God. For some, Josh O’Connor is well-known for playing Larry Durrell in the TV series ‘The Durrells’.

And to add to the more English aspects of this American murder mystery film, the church exteriors of this film were shot at the Church of the Holy Innocents in High Beach, Epping Forest in England. This is ironic, as the church is supposed to take place in New York state.

Father Jud isn’t exactly a pure priest, as he was once a boxer who reformed after killing a man in a match. And I’m currently wondering whether there are echoes of ‘Grantchester’ in the film, as Tom Brittney’s character was a vicar that tended to do boxing in that series. 😀

However, in the film, Father Jud is under suspicion when the congregation’s central figure – Josh Brolin as Jefferson Wicks – who is a charismatic and domineering monsignor – gets killed in the film. Josh Brolin played Thanos in the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ films. 😀

Branded an outside and the prime suspect, Father Jud ends up teaming up with Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc to expose the real killer. Once again, Daniel Craig continues to excel in his role as Benoit Blanc in this film series, even if his American accent can be dodgy. 🙂

I think Josh O’Connor’s American accent is better than that, as he’s an English actor himself. 😀 There are plenty of unsavoury characters featured throughout the film, especially when the congregation are under the influence of Jefferson Wicks in the village.

There are times when I thought the film was going to go into ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ territory where everyone was responsible for killing Jefferson Wicks. Or if Father Jud was going to end up being the real murderer after all. It didn’t turn out to be the case for both.

I also don’t think Roman Catholics and Christians in general would succumb to swearing quite a lot in the film. Maybe it’s just in America that happens or maybe it’s partly Rian Johnson’s writing at play here. I don’t know, but it doesn’t paint Christians in a good light. 😐

As well as Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor and Josh Brolin, the film also includes Glenn Close as Martha Delacroix, a devout church lady and Wicks’ right-hand woman. For me, Glenn Close played Cruella de Vil in the live-action ‘101 Dalmatians’ and ‘102 Dalmatians’ films.

There’s Mila Kunis (who I’ve seen in ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’) as Geraldine Scott, a local police chief. There’s Jeremy Renner (well-known for playing Hawkeye in the ‘MCU’) as Nat Sharp, a town doctor who struggles with alcoholism following his latest divorce. 😐

Kerry Washington (who was Alicia Masters in the 2005 and 2007 ‘Fantastic Four’ movies) plays Vera Draven, a tightly wound lawyer who smokes a lot. 😀 Daryl McCormack plays Vera’s adoptive son Cy Draven, who’s an aspiring politician and a conservative influencer.

Andrew Scott (who played Moriarty in the ‘Sherlock’ BBC TV series with Benedict Cumberbatch) plays Lee Ross, a formerly best-selling author who tries to recover his career. There’s also Cailee Spaeny as Simone Vivane, a disabled former concert cellist. 🙂

Thomas Haden Church (who played Flint Marko/Sandman in ‘Spider-Man 3’ and ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (both of them), plays Samson Holt, a circumspect groundskeeper and Martha’s lover in the film. It was nice to see Thomas Haden Church again for this film.

Jeffrey Wright plays Langstrom, a bishop who assigns Father Jud to Jefferson Wicks’ church, Annie Hamilton plays Grace Wicks, Jefferson’s mother, who appears in flashback scenes in the movie, and there’s James Faulkner who plays Prentice Wicks, Jefferson’s grandfather.

Bridget Everrett plays Louise, a construction company employee, Noah Segan plays Nikolai, a bar owner, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a baseball announcer in the film. In fact, I’ve noticed that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has appeared in every ‘Knives Out’ film so far.

In ‘Knives Out’, he did a voice cameo as Detective Hardrock, in ‘Glass Onion’, he voiced Miles Bron’s clock called the Hourly Dong, and now in ‘Wake Up Dead Man’, he’s a baseball announcer. I don’t know what the connection is between these three voice roles.

How is it that Joseph Gordon-Levitt keeps coming back to play these minor roles in these ‘Knives Out’ films directed by Rian Johnson. Granted, I haven’t Joseph Gordon-Levitt in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ in a long time, but it’s funny how he keeps returning to these films.

By the time the film came to an end and the end credits rolled up, I was explaining to my Mum about who committed the murder and how everything seemed to connect together with the multiple murders and murderers involved. And I’ve seen this movie only once so far!

I think the second half of the film is better than the first half, especially when we get into the crime-solving aspects of the film and it’s revealed who the true murderer is. The plot is complex, even when you view it for the first time, but somehow, it turned out to be satisfying.

I greatly enjoyed seeing ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ on Netflix recently. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it as much as I’ve enjoyed ‘Knives Out’ and ‘Glass Onion’. Hopefully the film will grow on me, especially when it comes to another follow-up film in this Benoit Blanc movie series.

I do feel that Rian Johnson knows how to do original whodunit murder mysteries compared to working on ‘Star Wars’. It’s a shame his planned ‘Star Wars’ film trilogy isn’t happening, but if he can make another Benoit Blanc film with Daniel Craig, I’m up for it. 😀

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂