Wake Up Dead Man Review

I’m not quite sure who exactly is to blame for this turn of events, but I was completely blindsided by the release of Wake Up Dead Man, the latest entry in the beloved Knives Out franchise. After the original film made huge waves back in 2019, followed by the spectacular Glass Onion in 2022, it’s no surprise that Wake Up Dead Man would be a must-watch film for this year, and I anticipate that once this movie hits Netflix in mid-December, the world will be talking about this latest glorious caper, the truth of which is pursued by the growingly-iconic Benoit Blanc.

Today, it’s time for our Wake Up Dead Man review. Usually, I would have a hard time biting my tongue, but what’s the point of watching this movie if you’ve had the ending spoiled! So, in a rare turn of events, I’ll be completely avoiding spoilers in this review, so feel free to read ahead if you want the scoop on the good, the bad, and the mysterious when it comes to this latest Knives Out enigma. Now, let’s waste no more time, and dive into the review!

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Wake Up Dead Man Review

Image by Netflix

Wake Up Dead Man is the latest Netflix release to hit theatres prior to debuting on the streaming service itself, and though I appreciate Netflix’s contribution to the moviegoing experience, I can’t help but feel that this movie would be a much bigger sensation if it had just debuted on streaming, allowing people to watch it from the comfort of their own homes. Against all odds, I didn’t really care for the first Knives Out movie, a film that I found to be overly-bloated and a little too far over the line when it came to campiness. In fact, the only reason I felt so compelled to watch Wake Up Dead Man is because of the second instalment in the series, Glass Onion, a movie that easily finds itself amongst my favourite movies of 2022.

One of the reasons that I think Knives Out didn’t quite gel with my personal preferences comes down to its incredibly large cast of major actors. Though it certainly boosted the appeal of the franchise when it comes to raw star power, I found myself a little overwhelmed by all of the huge personalities being presented. In this sense, Wake Up Dead Man is a far more appealing movie for me, with a much more streamlined cast of characters, less star power, but still recognisable faces, and a lot less focus on characters that don’t have a major role to play. In fact, despite some of the smaller characters in this movie not getting a lot of time on-screen to be fleshed out, I actually felt far more connected to the major players in this cast than I did in the original movie. Sure, this imbalance does lead to some characters steamrolling others, but I think that this more focused approach lends itself to a more satisfying conclusion when the mystery in Wake Up Dead Man is eventually solved.

The star of the show here is easily Josh O’Connor, who not only delivers his best performance in a film yet, but also manages to upstage Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, the central character that ties all of this franchise together. I also really enjoyed Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, and Andrew Scott here, and though his performance as an utterly detestable character makes it hard to admit this, Josh Brolin also delivers a captivating performance as one of Wake Up Dead Man’s most complex characters. Josh O’Connor is simply incredible though, and if this doesn’t earn him at least some awards nominations, I’ll be very disappointed. Unfortunately though, if I haven’t mentioned a character here already, then they didn’t leave much of a mark on me in the wake of Wake Up Dead Man – let’s talk about why.

Image by Netflix

Wake Up Dead Man soars so high and mighty when it comes to its strongest actors, that some of the other performers here, and their respective characters, feel a little left in the dust. I think a big part of this comes down to two factors – we don’t have enough time with them, and their baseline personalities simply aren’t over-the-top enough to make up for that lost time. Though not by much, Glass Onion was actually a shorter film than Wake Up Dead Man, and yet, I remember each and every one of the characters in that movie so well – well, maybe with the exception of Jessica Henwick. In fact, the cast of Glass Onion bordered closely on caricatures, to the point that we didn’t need a lot of time to make up our minds on them. In Wake Up Dead Man, it feels like only Andrew Scott reaches the same level of parody, whereas the rest of the ensemble come across as fairly measured and reasonable people.

I don’t think anyone does as bad of a job in Wake Up Dead Man though, as Mila Kunis, who looks completely out of place from the moment she appears on screen. Luckily, her role here doesn’t demand much of her, but she completely took me out of this movie every time she appeared. Jeremy Renner is only fine in this role, a role that, again, demands very little of the actor playing it. The issue with Kunis and Renner isn’t so much that they’re actively ruining Wake Up Dead Man with their performances, but more so that almost any other actors would have done a better job than them in their respective roles.

One actor that remains an irreplaceable centrepiece of the Knives Out franchise though, is Daniel Craig, who once again portrays master detective, Benoit Blanc, in what proves to be the most challenging of his cases yet. Though I have little bad to say about Blanc in this movie, I will say that something felt a little off about him here. Thinking back to Glass Onion, Blanc was a very loveable character, whether it was his unfiltered glee at witnessing the lavish lifestyle of Miles Bron, or whether it was his heartfelt celebration of justice with Helen Brand. He felt a lot softer, and more approachable in Glass Onion, as opposed to Wake Up Dead Man, a film that portrayed him in a much harsher, more typical, hardened detective fashion. Craig remains phenomenal in the role though, and manages to bring some brevity to a very dark film in concept. With each entry, Blanc becomes less and less satirical, a change that I really appreciate, but others might not.

Image by Netflix

Benoit Blanc’s growing seriousness as the Knives Out franchise carries on speaks to the overall evolution of these movies. In terms of mystery quality, set design, and overall thrill-factor, Wake Up Dead Man is pretty close in quality to Glass Onion. I think that ultimately, viewer preference between these movies will come down to whether you prefer a more light-hearted, fun murder mystery, or whether a more gritty, and solemn setting appeals to you. If you prefer the former, like I ultimately do, then Glass Onion may remain your favourite Knives Out movie. However, Wake Up Dead Man’s move towards a more serious, nuanced playbook is certainly a welcome change of pace for this franchise.

With that in mind, though some may argue that this is the greatest chapter in the Knives Out anthology, it is easily the least fun of all three of the movies. Yes, I even had more flat-out fun with the original movie, despite preferring Wake Up Dead Man is nearly every way. Whether you’re dealing with the dark religious undertones and commentary on sin present in this movie, or whether you’re watching a surprisingly dark and violent backstory play out, Wake Up Dead Man feels like a matured take on Knives Out, a version of the series that has grown-up, and left much of the franchise’s joy and whimsy behind. Despite their consistencies, I think that this franchise is proving that each of its entries are so distinct from each other that, quite honestly, your favourite movie of the three may vary depending on your mood that day, and I really respect Rian Johnson for being able to produce three movies that are so similar in idea, and yet so strikingly different in tone.

Speaking of this movie’s darker undertones, I am once again impressed by how timely this latest Knives Out movie is, with each of these three movies approaching different social issues, and handling them gracefully in what each feel like very well-timed commentaries. Where the original Knives Out dealt with racial prejudice, and Glass Onion spoke about classism and the protection of evil in the pursuit of money, Wake Up Dead Man‘s exploration of religion and the shrouding of personal sin in pursuit of false glory hits heavy in the current landscape. On a more light-hearted note, the movie, like both before it, is also filled with contemporary pop-culture references, and though I do worry that this may age the film poorly, for now, it works very well. I think Wake Up Dead Man could perhaps have pursued its social commentary even further, perhaps by explicitly pointing out Benoit Blanc’s homosexuality, and how that ties into his disdain of religion. However, in the current political landscape, riddled with tension and thirsting for protest, perhaps this more subliminal approach was a wise move.

Image by Netflix

Now, before I finish, let’s talk about the actual mystery, though I will spare any spoiler-related details. Again, the mystery here works very well, and this is mainly thanks to how easy it is to see everything happening in real-time upon a rewatch. Like Knives Out and Glass Onion before it, Wake Up Dead Man doesn’t whip-up a solution out of thin air. It’s nearly impossible to figure out whodunnit before the film reveals it to you, and yet on a rewatch, everything makes complete sense. This is where mystery movies often miss the mark, by introducing an impossible factor, and pinning the whole solution on them – I even criticised Weapons, one of my favourite movies of the year, for the same thing. The mystery should be solvable once you have all the pieces, much like Blanc himself states in this movie. Once again, the team behind this movie have crafted a real head-scratcher, but one that falls into place at the end all the same.

I won’t spoil anything to do with the ending, but it was such a satisfying conclusion to the main character arcs in this movie. The mystery solution was compelling in itself, but what I really loved was the final shot of this movie. This one scene tied together all of the themes in Wake Up Dead Man, all while also answering the movie’s final, lingering mystery. The movie may have let some of its supporting cast down when it comes to their development, but when it comes to the main characters here, they’re treated with a real care and dignity that I absolutely loved, and the final shot proves that my faith in this movie was rewarded. It’s not the same kind of bombastic ending that Glass Onion had, but it worked in its own way, a more subdued ending, for a more subdued film.

So ultimately, though Glass Onion remains my favourite entry in the Knives Out franchise, I absolutely loved Wake Up Dead Man, and I think that if you can look past its less than favourable treatment of some of its ensemble cast members, and a couple of questionable acting performances, you’ll also see the magic in this darkest Knives Out chapter yet. What did you think of Wake Up Dead Man? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and thanks for reading!

See also: Ranking the ‘Wicked: For Good’ Soundtrack

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Where to Watch Wake Up Dead Man?

Image by Amazon Prime Video

Wake Up Dead Man is now showing in select theatres, beginning November 26, 2025. If you’re unable to make it to see it in theatres, fear not! The film will debut on streaming soon, as it arrives on Netflix on December 12, 2025. Be sure to check it out!

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