Wake Up Dead Man (2025) Movie Review

Hello

everyone and welcome to the concession stand here on the KB radio network I am your host Kevin Reed and this is the review of Netflix latest mystery film from

the Knives Out film franchise.

This is the third installment.

Wake Up Dead Man returning is writer and director Ryan

Johnson. Also the star

Daniel Craig as the master detective Benoit Blanc.

Once again flanked by an all-star powerful cast.

You have

Josh O'Connell,

Glenn Close,

Josh Brolin

Mia Kunitz

is in this film uh uh hawkeye himself jeremy renner um kerry washington andrew scott uh kaylee spady daryl mccormick and hayden or or thomas hayden church and

of course you can't have a film based around a church without having thomas hayden church uh it's only fitting and in this installment of the franchise you have

Benoit Bloch

returning for his most dangerous case yet that's what they taglined it but it's not really his most dangerous in my eyes but this is a case that involves priests faith and the most impossible crime i'm

a big fan of this franchise i you know it's crazy i was thinking while watching this film i remember going to the theater to watch knives out i had an adventure

screening to that movie and i was just all in on it i love a good whodunit i'm a big whodunit guy and oddly enough what got me hooked on whodunit is

clue the movie clue from uh the 1980s with tim curry and and a cast of others but i love clue yes it's

problematic now if you go back and watch it it's kind of all over the place but i still love it love that movie um got me hooked on whodunit and especially comedies you know uh dark comedies with whodunit and mystery and thriller elements and all that wrapped up in one and knives out was a throwback

to that in a sense very smart real you know smartly written by ryan johnson uh Ah.

I was intrigued by it.

So when they announced that

Netflix had struck a deal with Rian Johnson to give us a Lithia films,

you know,

a film series based on this Master Detective,

I was all in,

man.

Glass Onion,

I had so much fun with it.

And it wasn't as good as the first one,

but it was a fun movie.

You know,

it's the one film in this series,

which is.

crazy it's only three as it stands right now that i wouldn't go back and watch again you know unless it's on in the background or something like that but nothing i would seek out to go see but this film i

guess i spoiled it when i said that but this film definitely fits in that realm of the first film i love this it it can it can compete for being better than the first film

The mystery was there.

Now,

I will say this.

The one thing about this movie that is different from the others,

in a sense,

I knew who the killer was.

I knew who the killer was very,

very early,

as opposed to the other films where

I really didn't know.

You know,

it took me a minute to find out.

In this one,

I figured it out pretty early.

Now,

with that being said...

I think it was designed that way because as the film goes on,

it throws you off of that scent.

You know,

like,

well,

maybe not.

Maybe it wasn't them.

Maybe it was them.

I don't know.

But then you go back like,

no,

it makes sense.

It would be them.

But well,

is it though?

You know,

it does a good job of kind of throwing off the scent.

And

I had fun.

Going down this rabbit hole with

Benoit Blanc and our young pretty priest played by Josh McConnell man

This was an awesome cast.

I mean,

Daniel Craig,

what else needs to be said?

He owns this role.

I think he was born to play this more than he was born to play James Bond.

He really embraced this role,

you know,

from the first one.

This could have easily been a paycheck type role for him going back to Knives Out and whatnot.

But he looks like he is enjoying getting into this role.

He enjoys.

playing this character and you know bouncing off of these other talented actors that he gets to play in this sandbox with and this film is no different i think he had the most to do in this film than he has in any other installment i i i had fun with daniel craig in his role oddly enough he

really didn't pop up until about an hour into the movie it took a minute for us to get to him but

Once we got to him,

it was all him,

man.

He was chewing up the scenery like nobody's business,

but allowing everybody else to have fun.

And that's another enjoyable thing about this.

As stacked as this cast is,

nobody outdid the other.

Nobody overacted.

You know,

nobody tried to outshine anybody in this film.

the true star of this movie is josh o'connell he is the protagonist in this film he's the uh character that we're following throughout so it was a lot on his shoulders i'm not a i don't know much about him i was about to say i'm not a fan it wouldn't be fair to say that i haven't seen him in anything other than this i probably have and didn't realize it but this

is my first time really seeing him in something as far as the league and man

I'm like,

where has he been all my life?

He is really,

really good.

Because if he doesn't work,

if his character doesn't work,

if his performance is flat,

the movie is flat.

Because you are him.

You are seeing the movie or seeing the film through his eyes,

you know?

So it's got to work.

And he did a great job,

you know?

Because he truly has to interact with every single person.

person in this film outside of daniel craig even before daniel craig's character shows up he he had we got a full story a backstory a motivation where he's coming from what he's struggling with all that was flushed out perfectly before the movie even jumped and jumped into high gear and

so all automatically you're like okay i can i can watch a movie about this guy now the the murder part of it all.

That's just the lanyard.

You know,

that's just a little extra there.

But,

yeah,

I was super impressed by him.

If I had to pick one of the supporting cast that were,

you know,

standing out more than the other,

I would say Glenn Close.

But it would be,

no pun intended,

a close race with her and Josh Brolin.

Josh Brolin,

man.

I mean,

once again,

could have been a throwaway role.

Could have been a paycheck role.

I'm just doing this to do it.

No,

man.

He really dove into this role in this performance,

man.

Awesome.

Awesome job by everybody.

Nobody was miscast.

The entire cast was perfect,

as always in these films.

Moving on to the direction,

Ryan Jock.

uh johnson you know last jedi aside every film that he has made i loved i love the way he tells a story i love the way not only his writing and

how he flush out characters but his eye and how he shows you know especially in these type of movies show us little easter eggs a little little things you know prior

to the reveal you know if you go back and think you're like oh that's why that character did this little facial expression or have their hand in a coat for an entire scene and then when we get a reveal we see why their hand is in that coat or why they're standing in this section of the room it's everything is like perfectly orchestrated

and just executed to borderline perfection i am super impressed

in his direction the tone was perfect everything was great

great but i do have one flaw i do have one tiny flaw with the film this movie is two hours and 24 minutes long it did not have to be two hours and 24 minutes it could have easily been a tight two hours and we would have got the same joy

walking away from it it just ran a little too long and and you know a lot of films are doing that these days it's

especially,

especially on streaming,

you know,

because there's no real regulation.

Because when you when you release a film in theaters,

you want to get it under two hours because you can get more viewings in a day,

you know.

But if you have a three hour or,

you know,

two and a half,

three hour movie that cuts cuts down the number of viewings,

which means it cuts down the amount of money it makes.

so that's why it's such a tight window with theatrical and now releasing it at home who cares you can watch it as many times how many times or whatever and so it's

it's kind of it's kind of uh free going on streaming services but uh that doesn't mean just because you can doesn't mean you should all the time now some movies do require

This is one I don't think required two hours and 30 minutes.

It could have easily trimmed off 20 minutes of this film,

and it wouldn't have hurt not one element of this story.

Now,

aside from that,

this movie is great.

I really enjoyed it.

Of course,

this is my bag.

I love these type of films,

and so it may be an element of bias there,

but I still love it.

uh regardless and another element i did enjoy about this is the discussion the uh underlining not really underlining because it really was the plot the uh the

storyline with faith and with religion and with belief and versus non-belief and you know movies like that kind of get me nervous because i am a christian you know i'm a believer and so I

I get kind of uncomfortable with that sometimes because,

you know,

some filmmakers or whoever may come with their own agenda,

trying to push their own agenda.

And,

you know,

I don't go to movies for that.

Everybody has the right to have their opinion.

But,

you know,

that's not my thing,

you know,

to push your own thing.

And that goes either way.

That goes either way.

I'm not saying for the believers and non-believers,

they all.

I don't need to see that.

You know,

I don't watch Christian movies for that reason.

And I'm a Christian.

So that should go tell you that

I'm being pretty non-biased there.

But this film doesn't do that.

It had a clear,

clear opportunity to do.

But it really left it up to the viewer.

It really just laid it out there.

Like,

hey,

whatever your belief is,

that's your belief.

You know?

but we can still coexist and and i did like that element of it and i love that no matter where you stand on that spectrum that i think you could take away something from this movie you know you not to say that it changed your life but whatever you believe going in you're probably going to believe walking out you know it won't offend you and

i i really do appreciate the movie for that with all that being said wake up dead man gets a letter grade

of an A-.

Yeah,

I really enjoyed it.

One of the best films of the year.

I wasn't shocked by this at all.

You know,

my mouth didn't hit the floor like,

oh my God,

what did I watch?

No,

it didn't do that because I fully expected from this team.

But I would like to know,

what did you think of Wake Up Dead Man?

Does it fit perfectly amongst the pantheon of the Knives Out films?

Or did you...

not enjoy it you know do you think it's at the bottom of the list out of these three films i would love to know your opinion your thoughts and your feelings email the show kbradiopodcast at gmail.com you can also search for the show on all social media platforms just search for the kb radio network also ladies and gentlemen don't forget about youtube Subscribe to the KB Radio Network channel here on

YouTube.

this video if you don't mind don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you are currently listening to the concession stand here on the kb radio network everybody thank you for joining me for this review of wake up dead man a knives out mystery want you all to know that i love you continue to love everyone and until we speak again

You all be blessed.

Wake Up Dead Man (2025) Movie Review

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