- Content: “Uneven and Somewhat Offensive”
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What You Need To Know:
WAKE UP DEAD MAN has high production values and excellent acting. It has an interesting debate between the atheist detective and the Priest about Christian faith. Sadly, however, WAKE UP DEAD MAN has too many storylines and a mixed pagan worldview. The movie’s positive depiction of the Priest is marred by a false politically correct portrayal of Christian conservatives. WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY also has more than 40 gratuitous obscenities and profanities, and unnecessary lewd content.
Content:
Mixed pagan worldview in a murder mystery set within a Catholic Church community with some positive Christian, moral content marred by politically correct attacks on Christian conservatives, and an atheist detective who argues with a sincere Catholic priest about faith, with references that Jesus saved a broken man, the priest mentions that Jesus forgave his sins and changed his life, there’s some prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, the atheist detective has a long monologue where he describes a litany of sins in the Catholic Church in America, multiple characters portray Christians but don’t act like Christians, movie implies that all people are greedy and don’t change just because they become Christian, the conservative Catholic Monsignor in the movie is aggressive and physically abusive and seems only concerned with politics and not for the care and soul of people and his congregation;
36 obscenities (including two “f” words) and six strong profanities mentioning the name of Jesus;
Strong and light violence includes hitting, punching, kicking someone, murder, mentions of killing someone in a fighting ring, a person is stabbed by a sickle, bodies are shown deteriorating in acid, woman beats a child, priest mentions a mother beating a child,
Strong sexual content includes many references to a sexually promiscuous woman, and there’s a long gross scene where the Monsignor confesses to self-abuse to the Priest;
Some rear male nudity;
Some drinking and drunkenness;
Some smoking but no drugs; and,
Lying and deception.
More Detail:
Josh O’Connor plays Father Jud, who’s had a remarkable transformation from being a boxer to becoming a priest. When he was a boxer, he killed someone in the ring, and which led to an epiphany of needing Jesus’ forgiveness. When he gets angry at a Deacon at his church and swings at him, he’s transferred to another church in upstate New York. This Church is led by a charismatic and aggressive man named Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, played by Josh Brolin. Monsignor Wicks is very passionate about his sermons and often speaks about political topics in an angry manner. The small congregation almost blindly agrees with Wicks and follows his beliefs.
Martha, played by Glenn Close, has served the church since she was a child. She does all the church’s administrative work, keeping it running properly and keeping Monsignor Wicks in line. Dr. Nat Sharp, played by Jeremy Renner, is a doctor who is down and out after his wife left him, taking the children. He spends much of his nights drinking. Vera Draven’s father was very close to Wicks, and so she has faithfully gone to the church since childhood. She also has adopted and raised Cy Draven, a young man who hopes to get into the Republican political world. Cy is constantly filming everything that goes on along him and posting on social media. This has helped Wicks build a following on the internet. Meanwhile, Lee Ross is a science fiction writer who’s very politically driven and believes every word Wicks says. Finally, Simone Vivane is in a wheelchair because of an autoimmune disease, but trusts in Wicks to help her be healed.
Father Jud and Monsignor Wicks are not getting along. Their pastoral styles are diametrically opposed. Father Jud stresses Jesus Christ’s love, peace and forgivingness while Monsignor Wicks is aggressive and political and uses anger to motivate people.
One day, Wicks tells the congregation he will be closing the doors and moving on next Easter Sunday. That day he will reveal all of the congregation’s faults and failures. However, the Sunday before, Palm Sunday, Wicks gives a sermon, walks away and falls down dead. The mystery is, who killed Monsignor Wicks?
Each congregation member has some reason why they could be the killer, and the famous detective, Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, arrives to solve the mystery. Because of Blanc’s denial of God, he thinks this mystery may be impossible to solve. Blanc and Father Jud have debates about faith, God and forgiveness of sins, though Blanc never seems to come to a real epiphany. Will Blanc be able to solve the mystery of who killed Monsignor Wicks?
WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY had a lot of potential, with the backdrop being a Catholic church. The movie includes a lot of dialogue about faith and the American church. Father Jud is a religious leader who’s done wrong in his life, repented and found hope, forgiveness and peace in Jesus Christ. However, the movie depicts Monsignor Wicks as an aggressive, political and antagonistic conservative. The movie’s writing implies that he fully represents patriotic, conservative American Church. In reality, the American Church is made up of 120 million people that go to Church every week, with all different styles. Also, to be aggressive and physically abusive is not in any way condoned by the American Church, as Christians believe to lay down your sword, turn the other cheek and love others like Jesus loved others. The movie also presents multiple other characters depicting a false, caricature of Christians.
WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY is an extremely polished movie, with very high production values. The director Rian Johnson used lighting as another character in the movie, which adds lots of depth to the scenes. The movie has some excellent acting by Josh O’Connor, who portrays the faithful Priest. Daniel Criag also does a great job being Benoit Blanc, the brilliant detective.
However, WAKE UP DEAD MAN is not as clever as the previous two KNIVES OUT movies. The final twist is more evident than the previous movies. The movie also has some plot holes and unnecessary storylines that add very little. So, WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY is not as enjoyable or satisfying as the first two KNIVES OUT movies. MOVIEGUIDE® rates the new movie as excessive and ultimately unacceptable.
