Wake Up Dead Man: Rian Johnson’s third Knives Out movie reflects our ‘dark days’

Agatha Christie-esque murder mysteries are all the vogue right now but up until 2019, the genre was far from chic.

There’s one man you can thank for its revival: Rian Johnson.

Coming off the billion-dollar commercial success of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (the best of the new trilogy, you can disagree but you’d be wrong), Johnson did what he often does, and that’s to make another original film set in a world he imagined.

With Knives Out, he cast James Bond and Captain America, aka Daniel Craig and Chris Evans, alongside an impressive ensemble that also included Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette and the then-up-and-coming Ana de Armas, in a closed-house mystery full of gothic vibes and contemporary political resonance.

It was also a love letter to a genre he loves, and Johnson wasn’t interested in upending or subverting it, he wanted to weaponise it. He wanted to take those beloved tropes and make them do what they do best, just as he did with Brick and film noir, and Looper and time travel.

It has a massive hit, earning $US312 million from its modest $US40 million budget, rave reviews and an Oscar nomination for original screenplay.

A bidding war for the sequel followed and Netflix emerged the victor but paid $US469 million for the honour, inking a deal for the next two Knives Out films.

Glass Onion came out during the pandemic, set on a sun-kissed Greek island to reflect the desire for faraway adventures while we’re all cooped up inside.

Now, Wake Up Dead Man is another film in conversation with the moment, with Craig once again reprising his role as the one narrative constant that threads these films, as the Southern detective Benoit Blanc.

Wake Up Dead Man is set in rural New York state in a small town with a Catholic parish ruled by Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin), a corrupt church leader who holds a cult leader-like thrall over his support group.

His control is disrupted with the arrival of a young priest, Reverend Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), who sees right through Wicks, and acts as the audience surrogate and the film’s emotional and moral centre. Wicks is soon killed in an “impossible murder” situation, inspired by the author John Dickson Carr.

There’s no shortage of suspects with characters portrayed by Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Thomas Haden Church, Daryl McCormack, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington and Cailee Spaeny all with motives to kill.

Wicks’s villainy is familiar – a bully cloaked in righteousness who stirs hatred and prejudice in his flock, and who cries fire and brimstone against perceived threats to his world order.

Should we read into analogies to present political leaders?

“These movies are very intentionally set in the modern day,” Johnson told The Nightly. “This movie takes place in 2025. For me, the murder mystery genre is one, when I was growing up, I mostly saw done as a period piece, and outside of our current reality.

“It’s very intentional with these films that we’re just going to talk to our current reality and people that you may or may not be thinking of, are a big part of our current reality right now.

“So, let’s talk about it, but there is also, besides the specificity of that, which narrows it, there’s a bigger thing which is talking about people who manipulate others in order to gain power for themselves.

“That’s a more universal thing, which is nonetheless very present today.”

That urgent relevance has been Johnson’s raison d’etre throughout the Knives Out series. The first film, a gothic mystery about a family squabbling over the dead patriarch’s wealth, drew on the political tone of Donald Trump’s first term, even explicitly referencing the president.

The more farcical and comedy-forward Glass Onion was an indictment of the narcissism – and fraud – of tech billionaires, as well as the toadying hangers-on driven by self-interest and dollar signs.

Like the first Knives Out, Wake Up Dead Man shares a similar darkness in tone and mood, and reflects the general anxiety of 2025. It has characters who are cowed to act, despite knowing better, as well as those who have been seduced by preachings of blaming others for their own failings.

Renner’s town doctor is stewing in resentment over his divorce, McCormack’s and Scott’s character are both aspiring to capitalise on alt-right bitterness and divisive politics. It’s a frightening portrait of our times.

But that doesn’t mean Johnson is without hope.

“These are dark days,” he said. “But at the same time, that means more than ever, we need to find connection points. We need to find things that we can feel good about, and we need to find things that open us up to each other.”

O’Connor’s character, Jud, is that ray of light, and for a film set in a religious context, light and shade are ever present.

Jud is the co-lead, and he carries the audience’s attention for almost an hour before Benoit Blanc even shows up. He’s the one who sees all that is wrong with Wicks and his hold over the parish, and isn’t content to stand idly by while a false prophet spreads fear.

There is something incredibly aspiring about a character who is not weighed down by cynicism, and who is open-hearted.

“That’s a part of Jud,” O’Connor said. “He is trying his best, and he would say, he would admit this himself, that he’s trying his best to be understanding of everyone, Wicks included.

“His set position is one of an attempt to understand and to not draw conclusions quite so soon, and obviously that’s a serious theme in the film.

“I was so excited to play this enthusiastic, wide-eyed, straight out of priest school (person) coming in, and being like ‘let me out, this is going to be so great’. I’m watching that balloon deflate slowly, but he’s (still) looking for the good in everyone.”

Wake Up Dead Man marks the end of Johnson’s Netflix deal and the future of the series depends on audience appetite and a studio’s willingness to greenlight more. Johnson is up for it, and so is Craig.

For now, there’s something else in the works coming up, although Johnson remains schtum about it. It’s not another Star Wars though, which he was attached to for a while but is firmly on the back bench.

“I’m writing my next movie now,” he said. “It’s not (a Knives Out), it is something original, and I’m in the middle of writing so I don’t want to characterise it yet.”

A new mystery for fans to solve, but what seems likely, if not certain, is Johnson will deliver something that’s auteur-driven but audience-focused, a rare combination of filmic and entertaining, and quintessentially him.

Perhaps he’ll even revive another dusty genre.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is in cinemas on November 27 and on Netflix from December 11.