Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, starring Daniel Craig, is new in theaters on Wednesday and Rotten Tomatoes critics are weighing in with their reviews of the filmmaker’s latest whodunit.
The third film in writer-director Johnson’s Knives Out series, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery opens in select theaters on Wednesday before it begins streaming on Netflix on Dec. 12. Johnson kicked off the film series with Knives Out in 2019, which was followed by Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in 2022.
The official summary for the new Knives Out Mystery reads, “Benoit Blanc (Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus. When young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews.
“Wicks’ modest but devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), tightly wound lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), bestselling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny).
“After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.”
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery to date has earned a 95% “fresh” critics’ score based on 103 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads, “Giving Benoit Blanc a worthy mystery with its genuinely soulful fixation on faith and a scene-stealing Josh O’Connor performance, Wake Up Dead Man is another Knives Out puzzle that comes together splendidly.”
The RT audience summary and Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings are still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’?
Peter Howell of the Toronto Star is among the top critics on RT who gives Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery a “fresh” score, writing, “The third Benoit Blanc whodunit is the best yet. Daniel Craig’s grinning gumshoe is funkier and more focused, as writer-director Rian Johnson goes back to the church of genre for a dark, twisting and satisfying tale that’s also quite funny.”
David Fear of Rolling Stone also praises the film on RT, writing in his review summary, “Everyone seems to be having a blast, and the filmmaker knows how to take both the ensemble he’s assembled and his congregation of Knives Out fans — call us Blanc-heads — to church, literally and figuratively.”
Kristy Puchko of Mashable is also a fan of the latest A Knives Out Mystery, writing on RT, “Wake Up Dead Man is sharply written, passionately brought to life, and thoughtfully built, with allusions galore in its costumes, characters, novels, lore, and more.”
Katie Erbland of IndieWire mentions Rian Johnson’s filmmaking prowess in her review summary on RT, writing, “It works, and it’s no big mystery why — Johnson knows his form and format, and delivers on it, playing with tone and message but never losing sight of why these stories are so damn entertaining to watch and unravel.”
Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com also tips his cap to the director in his “fresh” review summary on RT, noting, “It is a film so rich in ideas that it’s the rare whodunit that seems likely to play even better the second time when following the mystery can take a back seat to considering how Johnson has crafted one of his best screenplays.”
As of the publication of this article, there are no “rotten” reviews of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery among the top critics on RT.
Among all RT-approved critics, however, Rachel Wagner of Rachel’s Reviews is one of few critics on the aggregation site who deem the film “rotten,” writing, “Fans of the franchise will probably enjoy this entry but I don’t think it builds the clues and mystery well, requiring lots of exposition for it to make any sense.”
Another “rotten” review of the new Knives Out Mystery on RT comes from Trace Sauveur of Paste Magazine. The critic notes that while Wake Up Dead Man “leans toward a more meaningful mystery for Blanc,” it “also suffers from so much narrative baggage that it fails both as the darker, personal story it wants to be and as the lighter comic escapade these films usually promise.”
Rated PG-13, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery opens in select theaters on Wednesday and begins streaming on Netflix on Dec. 12.
