MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ |
Since the past weekend’s highest-grossing as-yet-unreviewed theatrical film, the 205-minute Indian actioner “Dhurandhar,” is playing on only 377 screens in the entire country, I thought I’d take this opportunity to review something a little more accessible.
“Wake Up Dead Man” is the third installment of Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” mystery franchise. Like its predecessor, “Glass Onion,” “Wake Up Dead Man” is treating fans to a brief theatrical run to supplement its Dec. 12 Netflix debut.
As with the original “Knives Out” from 2019, the whodunit largely follows a character so likely to be the killer that they start to suspect themselves.
Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is the assistant pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude Church in Upstate New York, having been assigned there as punishment for punching a rude deacon at his old church. He clashes with head pastor Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) over the church leader’s tendency to verbally browbeat unfamiliar parishioners until they leave. Duplenticy wants people........