Rian Johnson can make these Benoit Blanc whodunits until the end of his career and I’ll continue watching them just for the cast he manages to put together for each one. Each seems to be a commentary on our times as much as it is a murder mystery which is a fete in and of itself. I’m here for it.
Wake Up Dead Man follows Benoit to a small New York town where a priest has been murdered during mass and the main suspect is the other priest assigned to the community. The dead priest, played by Josh Brolin, is an unlikable bully and those in the community gravitate to him anyway. The new priest (Josh O’Conner) tries his best to fit in but the townsfolk aren’t having it. And at the center of this, the legend of a missing diamond once owned by a priest who died years previously.
Like the previous Benoit Blanc adventures, this film is full of red herrings and false leads. Unlike the other two films, this one feels a bit more subdued. A little less funny in an intentional way. I think the religious aspect of this film, being set in a religious community, makes for more of a serious movie and that isn’t a bad thing. In true Benoit Blanc form, he gives up solving the case so that the real murderer can come forward of their own volition. It is a film revolving around the Catholic faith, so confessing one’s sins openly is certainly one of the themes here.
The cast is great, but there really isn’t a shining star in this one. Unlike Chris Evans’ memeable character in the first film and Janelle Monáe and Ed Norton’s monologues and actions in Glass Onion, this film doesn’t offer up one of its actors as more memorable as the others. They all show up and put in the performances required but the serious undertones of Wake Up Dead Man doesn’t give them any outlandish lines or scenes to go viral over.
This film is just as much about the choices people face in front of God and their own mirrors as it is about the mystery of who murdered a priest. If presented with, say, a gigantic diamond, do we learn from the past mistakes of others and ourselves and do the right thing, or do we what is second nature to us and allow selfish greed to control our decisions? It succeeds along these lines in the end for the most part. This isn’t the best of Benoit Blanc’s adventures, but it is certainly a welcome addition to the whodunit genre.
4 out of 5 stars.
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
Rian Johnson can make these Benoit Blanc whodunits until the end of his career and I’ll continue watching them just for the cast he manages to put together for each one. Each seems to be a commentary on our times as much as it is a murder mystery which is a fete in and of itself. I’m here for it.
Wake Up Dead Man follows Benoit to a small New York town where a priest has been murdered during mass and the main suspect is the other priest assigned to the community. The dead priest, played by Josh Brolin, is an unlikable bully and those in the community gravitate to him anyway. The new priest (Josh O’Conner) tries his best to fit in but the townsfolk aren’t having it. And at the center of this, the legend of a missing diamond once owned by a priest who died years previously.
Like the previous Benoit Blanc adventures, this film is full of red herrings and false leads. Unlike the other two films, this one feels a bit more subdued. A little less funny in an intentional way. I think the religious aspect of this film, being set in a religious community, makes for more of a serious movie and that isn’t a bad thing. In true Benoit Blanc form, he gives up solving the case so that the real murderer can come forward of their own volition. It is a film revolving around the Catholic faith, so confessing one’s sins openly is certainly one of the themes here.
The cast is great, but there really isn’t a shining star in this one. Unlike Chris Evans’ memeable character in the first film and Janelle Monáe and Ed Norton’s monologues and actions in Glass Onion, this film doesn’t offer up one of its actors as more memorable as the others. They all show up and put in the performances required but the serious undertones of Wake Up Dead Man doesn’t give them any outlandish lines or scenes to go viral over.
This film is just as much about the choices people face in front of God and their own mirrors as it is about the mystery of who murdered a priest. If presented with, say, a gigantic diamond, do we learn from the past mistakes of others and ourselves and do the right thing, or do we what is second nature to us and allow selfish greed to control our decisions? It succeeds along these lines in the end for the most part. This isn’t the best of Benoit Blanc’s adventures, but it is certainly a welcome addition to the whodunit genre.
4 out of 5 stars.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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