Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery: Austin Film Festival Review

There are thousands of roles each year that grace our local theaters and our TVs at home, but most of them don’t stay with us after the credits roll. Every once in a while, though, a character becomes truly memorable—so much so that they dominate Halloween costumes and even launch entire movie franchises. For me, a few that come to mind are Captain Jack Sparrow, Indiana Jones, and my new favorite detective, Benoit Blanc. While there’s nothing new for the first two, we do have a new Knives Out Mystery, which means more of Benoit Blanc piecing together another murder puzzle.

In a small coastal town, a local Catholic church is seeing its congregation erode, and the diocese decides to send a new priest to help turn things around. That priest is Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), who, after a troubled youth, found redemption in the priesthood. The current head of the church is Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Glenn Close), a man whose father helped build the very church he now presides over. Things seem a little off, though, and while the flock is thinning, there are seven parishioners who remain fiercely loyal to Monsignor Wicks.

Soon, everyone is shocked when Wicks is killed shortly after delivering a sermon—alone in a locked room. Naturally, everyone becomes a suspect, and the Police Chief (Mila Kunis) calls in Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to help solve the case. The mystery is a bit complicated in how it all unfolds, but as the investigation continues, things only grow stranger—and it’s going to take Blanc at his sharpest to uncover the truth.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Wake Up Dead Man continues Johnson’s love affair with the mystery genre while exploring deeper themes of forgiveness, belief, and trauma—especially the repressed kind. Gone is the eccentric, glossy atmosphere of Glass Onion; instead, Johnson opts for a more grounded, gothic tone and turns up the humor, making this perhaps the most purely entertaining entry in the series so far. The murder itself is relatively no-frills, but like in the previous films, Johnson cements himself alongside the greats of the whodunit tradition—Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr.

Wake Up Dead Man is a witty, darkly funny mystery that balances humor and tension all the way to its perfectly satisfying conclusion. Johnson maintains his signature balance as he weaves ideas of guilt, knowledge, and faith into a crime story without ever losing suspense. That said, Wake Up Dead Man isn’t a perfect film—some of its secondary characters feel underdeveloped, and at times, it can get a bit self-indulgent. Even so, it remains fascinating—a true “page-turner,” if such a term can apply to a movie.

As always, the cast is a major part of the film’s success. Alongside Craig, the ensemble includes Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, and Cailee Spaeny. Each adds something distinct, and together they make a fantastic unit. Still, it’s O’Connor who stands out most; he plays neither a hero nor a victim, but a man wrestling with shame and longing, and he gives the film a quiet dignity. Paired with Craig’s always-great Blanc, the result is something genuinely dazzling.

I really do love the Knives Out series. Each film feels so different from the others, with Blanc being the only thread connecting them all. I hope Rian Johnson keeps making these mysteries—but even if he moves on to other projects, let’s savor this new Benoit Blanc adventure. Because who knows? It might just be our last.