The third addition to Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” franchise, “Wake Up Dead Man,” is nearly a two-and-a-half hour long conversation on Christianity and faith, while retaining its classic murder mystery plotline. Jefferson Craig continues with his character from the previous movies, Benoit Blanc, a private investigator, but instead finds himself in Upstate New York for yet another murder.
The film follows Josh O’Connor, playing Father Jud Duplenticy, a priest who is transferred to a struggling Catholic church called Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, and meets Josh Brolin, their current priest, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks.
When the audience is first introduced to Jud, you see him punching another man in the face, and find out he has a background in boxing. As a professional boxer, Jud had killed someone in the ring due to his anger management issues, and later ended up becoming a junior pastor at the Church where he had punched someone. When his superior caught wind of this, he pulled him aside and said, “A priest is a shepherd, the world is a wolf.” With the superior’s message of battling the world, Jud interpreted it entirely differently, with the newfound desire to embrace the world and community around him.
“This,” Jud said, opening his arms for the world, “Not this,” holding up his fists.
Though the film reflects heavily on religion, it also discusses universally understood themes of finding light in the darkness and grounding oneself in moments of sheer disaster. The disaster ensues from the moment Jud switches churches and meets Wicks, a priest filled with hate and loathing who forms an almost cult-like community with the people who attend his church. Once Wicks catches wind that Jud is attempting to change the Church and make it more accepting and less fear-mongering, he begins to toy with Jud by asking him to take his confession constantly.
During Jud’s tempestuous and troubling time at the church, attempting to save it from its cult-like ways, Wicks is murdered. With the blame immediately going to Jud, the story follows Jud’s journey with Blanc to prove himself not guilty.
The film had an amazing way of making a murder mystery feel more than the classic storyline, with the engraving of emotional moments and Jud’s battle with his faith, giving it a more personal and humanizing essence. Once Jud catches himself straying from his beliefs and becomes more involved in the murder investigation than the priesthood, he quickly diverts from the investigation, focusing on his passion for helping others. Through Jud’s line, “You’re setting me against my only real purpose in my life, which is not to fight the wicked and bring them to justice, but to serve them,” the audience comes to realize where his priorities truly lie.
“Wake Up Dead Man” has to be the most emotional film out of the “Knives Out” trilogy, offering a different angle than the former movies, one that feels immensely personal and representative of the human experience.
