Vivo ou Morto: Um Mistério Knives Out

Before diving into the murder mystery aspect, I want to take a moment and acknowledge the commentary done on faith here.

A double-edged sword; on one side, it can uplift those in need and pain, guiding them toward better decisions and encouraging repentance. However, it can also be twisted and misused for selfish gains, leading some to become radicalised, blinded by anger and driven by greed and hate.

Now, turning back to the main story, while it certainly captivates and offers suspense in certain moments, the final twist doesn't deliver the punch that a good "whodunnit" should.

And I feel the primary issue lies in the lack of a compelling ensemble who would fit according to the situation being dealt with.

In narratives like this, it's essential for each character to have a strong, distinct identity, allowing the audience to continuously speculate and second-guess who the real culprit might be. When the cast fails to spark curiosity or engage the viewers, the whole experience feels diminished, ultimately undermining the story's intent.

With the exceptions of Blanc, Martha and Jud, the rest failed to make their cases heard, utterly forgettable on every front.

I saw this movie on the opening night of the Philadelphia Film Festival, which explains why I saw it before it will be released to Netflix in November.

"Wake Up Dead Man" is pretty typical of Rian Johnson's two previous Knives Out films. First, it has a pretty amazing cast. Second, it does make fun of MAGA people. And, third, it's terrific is pretty much every way.

The setting for this one is most unusual...a small, dying Catholic church. But once Father Jud Duplenticy arrives at this new post, he's shocked to see that the Monsignor is evil and has created a small, nasty clique or cult within his dying congregation. The common thing that binds these people is a general hatred for mankind...making it not exactly the nicest church you could attend. As a result, the well meaning and decent Father is stumped as to what to do...and it's made worse when the Monsignor physically assaults him and encourages his cult to hate the Father! So, it's not at all surprising when the Monsignor is found murdered during a church service...and it appears is if the killing was impossible. This is where Benoit Blanc enters the story and, frankly, he's really stumped!

The writing and acting are just about perfect. Some might dislike the film because they might see it as an attack on religion, though I think this isn't necessarily fair. The Father IS a good man...the sort Rian Johnson seemed to indicate he wishes he had growing up in an evangelical household (we heard about this during the Q&A following the film). All in all, a most enjoyable film....one I nearly scored a 10.

This is the third Knives Out film and whilst perhaps it doesn't hit the mad heights of ingenuity of Glass Onion, it's still highly watchable and way better than the recent Hercule Poirot films of Kenneth Branagh. Josh O'Connor is surprisingly good as the troubled young priest who becomes deeply disturbed at what he sees in the parish he is sequestered to after hitting another priest. He finds himself charged with murder and only Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) believes he is innocent. In true Knives Out fashion, everyone is a suspect and Blanc has to unravel the truth in his own inimitable way.

A great cast has fun playing some truly disturbing characters, especially Glenn Close as the borderline unhinged Martha. Blanc arrives about a third of the way into the story leaving Josh O'Connor plenty of room to shine as the naive but not stupid Father Jud. He finds the idyllic parish he is sent to to be anything but, full of strange eccentrics who don't trust him. Of course once Blanc arrives to try and piece together a story that at one point even he admits he doesn't understand then things get even more interesting.

What I like about this film, and the two Benoit Blanc films that came before, is that it is almost like a 21st century Colombo episode (except without telling you who teh guilty culprit is at the beginning). Craig's eccentric performance as Blanc might be irritating in the hands of a lesser actor and its a role he has grown into. Surrounding him with well known actors playing against type is a masterstroke and helps sell it even more.

Wake Up Dead Man is the third in the series so far and the second of a two picture deal director Rian Johnson agreed with Netflix. I really hope we get more Benoit Blanc films, preferably with another distributor as these films deserve a proper theatrical release rather than the limited one Netflix (very reluctantly) agreed to. You don't need to be a genius to realize that they are relatively inexpensive (by movie standards) to make, have a loyal (if older) audience who appreciate originality over bloated visual excess (such as the first two Branagh Poirot films) and love the dark humour these films serve. Actors want to be in them, Johnson and Craig want to do more of them and the public want to watch them. It's not rocket science!

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is a fine third iteration of the classic whodunnit mystery within the Knives Out franchise.

To review this film, you have to either write a lengthy passage reflecting on all the themes the film shines light on, or make it short and simple. I'll go simple on this one.

The script is just an imprint of Rian Johnson's thoughts and style. And since supposedly nobody was keeping Rian at bay, the first probably 30 minutes of the film felt unhinged when it comes to humor and satire. The film almost turned into a meta-comedy in the second act, but still managed to get back to the mystery it was intended to untangle.

The story was a classic Rian Johnson's one with excessive childish humor, lots of callbacks and nods to other franchises, constant attempt at subverting the viewer's expectations.

At the same time, it had lots of interesting political, personal and religious themes discussed, like (obviously) faith, religion, moral values and personal choices, greed, manipulation, power and politics, media and social interactions. While Rian surely wanted to have fresh characters and not basic stereotypes, some of them were still loosely connected to the story if at all, and felt more like tokens with traits attached rather than characters. The plot was well-constructed, but few scenes still felt like the plot was giving itself a push forward after stumbling and loosing it's focus.

Some might say that the film bashes on religion (especially in the first 30 minutes), but didn't find the film offensive in this way. The ending perfectly shows the respect given to genuine faith and canonical moral values.

The cast managed to deliver great performances with no exceptions, probably due to good direction, although in my opinion Andrew Scott was just underused, really needed more of him in this film.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is a prefect blend of political, religious and other personal themes, wrapped into classic Johnson's excessive whodunnit buffoonery. A solid 8/10, thank you, Rian Johnson.

Wake Up Dead Man really surprised me. I will admit I was not a huge fan of the first two films, but this new Knives Out installment is a much different beast. It still has plenty of laugh out loud moments, but the tone tends to take a more serious approach than the other two films.

It may not be the best film of the year, but I still really enjoyed this film and about 90% of that is due to Josh O'connor. He gives a fantastic performance here and unlike the first two Knives Out, Daniel Craig takes somewhat of a backseat here.

The runtime of the film is a bit longer than it needs to be but overall it does everything right from the cinematography to the score and witty script. If you love murder mysteries like me, Wake Up Dead Man is an absolute must watch even though its definitely not a film that must be seen on the big screen.