NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! Rian Johnson takes his sharpest turn yet with Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, diving headlong into faith, sin, and the politics of belief. Set in an isolated parish where devotion curdles into control, the film transforms a sacred space into a crucible of deceit and redemption. Johnson doesn’t just craft a murder mystery, he stages a crisis of faith with a body at the center of it.
In a secluded parish in upstate New York, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) exerts near-absolute control over his congregation. Church administrator Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close) manages the church’s daily operations, while the ever-watchful groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church) tends the property.
The parishioners and investigators gather at the scene of the crime in Rian Johnson’s gothic whodunnit. (Photo Credit: Courtesy of Netflix)
“All evidence seems to point to the young priest Jud Duplenticy, setting him up as the prime suspect in what appears to be an impossible murder.”
Among the church’s faithful are Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), a science fiction author who reveres Wicks’s teachings; Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), an attorney with a complicated personal connection to Wicks; and her adopted brother, Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), a conservative social media influencer. Rounding out the congregation are Dr. Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), the town’s newly divorced physician, and Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), a once-promising concert cellist now disabled and seeking divine healing through Wicks’s blessing.
Weary of Wicks’ declining attendance and controversial teaching methods, the local diocese sends the newly assigned priest, Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), to oversee the monsignor’s authority. Almost immediately, the two engage in one of the most passive-aggressive battles in church history. As Jud becomes entangled in the church’s daily life, his disdain for Wicks’s authoritarian rule grows, leading him to believe Wicks needs to go. At one point, Jud attempts to start his own prayer meeting, but the regulars interpret it as a subversion of Wicks’s authority. Soon, Jud confronts Wicks, and threats are made.
During the Good Friday service, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) delivers a searing sermon before descending alone into a sealed chamber beneath the church and collapsing. Jud enters the sealed room, and for nine seconds, he is out of view. Jud discovers Wicks has been stabbed, but since the room is sealed, Jud is now the only suspect in the murder. Panic erupts as Police Chief Geraldine Lawson (Mila Kunis) leads the investigation alongside Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who has been quietly observing the parish. All evidence seems to point to the young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), setting him up as the prime suspect in what appears to be an impossible murder within the walls of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude.
"…more than a clever whodunnit. It's a meditation on belief, guilt, and the stories we tell ourselves to stay righteous."
