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2025 film directed by Rian Johnson
World-renowned detective Benoit Blanc returns for his most dangerous case yet.
Director: Rian Johnson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Cailee Spaeney, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Mila Kunis, Thomas Haden Church, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, Josh O'Connor
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Metacritic: 85/100
Some Reviews:
Variety - Owen Glieberman
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is an enticingly clever and droll, nearly pitch-perfect piece of murder-mystery fun — a whodunit that lives up to the expectations set six years ago by “Knives Out,” which offered its own perfect revival of the Agatha Christie spirit, with a tasty frosting of meta cheekiness.
TheWrap - Chase Hutchinson
Although “Wake Up Dead Man” is the “Knives Out” movie that’s most preoccupied with existential questions surrounding death, writer/director Rian Johnson’s third film in the series is also the one that’s most full of life.
DEADLINE - Damon Wise
After the bright, light, summery holiday special that was Glass Onion, the Knives Out franchise returns to its gothic roots with a wintry whodunit that, for some at least, might endure as the the best one yet. Where the first and second used the murder-mystery as a jumping-off point for some very funny contemporary satire, Wake Up Dead Man is much more introspective. In a funny way, it’s a little analogous to Joker 2, not because it unloads on its audience in the same acerbic way but because it poses similarly metaphysical questions about its own popularity. Why do people respond so eagerly to stories of murder and betrayal? To answer that, director Rian Johnson goes back to the greatest story ever told, using a small religious community as the setting for the third instalment.
IndieWire - Kate Erbland - 'B+'
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.
Awards Radar - Joey Magidson - 3.5 / 4
Filmmaker Rian Johnson trusts the strength of his franchise to play around with format and theme. The gothic elements on display, as well as the religious aspect, may initially seem like a left turn, but it all ends up fitting like a glove. He knows the must haves for a Knives Out flick and absolutely delivers. A few big sequences here at TIFF received ovations once completed. You just can feel that you’re in the hands of a master storyteller, so you’ll follow him anywhere. Johnson knows that and 100% makes the most of it.
The Daily Beast - Nick Schager
In terms of pure, heady kicks, it outpaces Knives Out but falls just short of Glass Onion. In the big picture, however, such distinctions are rather inconsequential; more important is that Johnson’s franchise remains a sly and sure-footed delight, as well as demonstrates, with its religiously minded latest, that it’s capable of coloring its Christie-esque mysteries in a variety of shades.
I’ll start. Here’s my list:
Knives out (won by a mile for me)
Wake up dead man
Glass onion
The first story is still to this day one of my favourite whodunnit stories ever written, there’s just something about it that I thought was extremely clever. The twist in the end was bittersweet but it tied up the whole story nicely (I did not leave with any further questions unanswered).
I generally have a bad memory about films I don’t love and can’t remember a single thing about glass onion as I didn’t love it.
I enjoyed the newest one more than glass onion but I felt like the story fell a bit flat for me midway through till the end and it was missing a lot of shock factor in comparison to the first film.
Keen to hear what other fans think!!!
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Summary Detective Benoit Blanc returns to solve his most dangerous case yet. Set against a darker backdrop than his previous investigations, the mystery pulls Blanc into a web of secrets, betrayal, and buried sins where every suspect has something to hide—and the truth may come at a deadly cost.
Director Rian Johnson
Writer Rian Johnson
Cast
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc
Josh O’Connor
Glenn Close
Josh Brolin
Mila Kunis
Jeremy Renner
Kerry Washington
Andrew Scott
Cailee Spaeny
Daryl McCormack
Thomas Haden Church
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 81
VOD / Release On Netflix
Trailer Official Trailer