Wake Up Dead Man

Rian Johnson settles on the who in this whodunit and works his way backwards creating a maze out of a mystery box and places his suspects, their motives, backstories, skeletons in the closets and above all, interplay between spooky atmosphere, gothic surroundings with a trickery that involves flare and theatrical drama and meta-humor (if at all that’s even a word). The flip side is unlike the original installment, this third one heavily borrows from already available and familiar devices of mystery thanks to the works of prominent veterans in the game, such as- Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. But, definitely a step up from Glass Onion. Blanc has the least involvement in the whole investigative side of the whole thing compared to the previous two parts, instead he chases behind the clues, possible suspects and explains the puzzle with deep philosophical musings, empathy, tolerance and a tad bit of ridicule.

Josh O’Connor plants his feet and proves why he is up for the long game and a quirky Glenn Close displays she hasn’t gone rusty and has still got her game. It’s a tale of faith against dogma, narrative ostentatious showbiz against inner soul, confessions against repentance, hatred against forgiveness, greed against sacrifice, redemption against revenge and service against dominance.

It’s faith for the faithful, a puzzle for the rational, it’s Providence for the believers and the source of morality for the skeptics and non-believers. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not just a murder mystery that aims to sugarcoat the current state of political climate with an detective story franchise, rather it is the story of America’s rift whose thread traces all the way to the much bigger fight, the two forces have been in for a long time over at Vatican, The Holy See and The Diocese of Rome and Benoit Blanc couldn’t care less…. Actually he did care for a bit in a very candid way. Even though the moral compass of Wake Up Dead Man is a few degree skewed in justifying the intent and doesn’t do a deep dive into the metaethics of its fundamental decisions, it drives everything home quite neatly but not in a shocking way, maybe Johnson was trying to aim that to begin with. More heavy political commentary with humanity’s basics ( in contrast with even the ideological messagings delivered subtly in the first two parts) and less searching for who has done it in the whodunit.

The brilliance of Wake Up Dead Man is in its discourse. The believers find themselves back in the game after a while getting astray since the evolutionary instincts start kicking in and the non-believer doesn’t move an inch despite moments that seem like miracles coated as callings. That’s the beauty, skeptics and atheists have the wisdom of accepting that in our fleeting existence of 70-80 years, the battle is futile since the endgame is one-sided and the rules are already rigged the day we open our eyes, but, it’s a moral duty to press on. On the other hand, the faithful longs for a teleological description, community, purpose-driven existence, terror management and redemption. As misguided as it may. Both sides don’t belittle the other (for the most part) and the wheel continues spinning. It’s not an extraordinary piece of whodunit because it wasn’t going for it. It’s a socio-political movie first with underlying religious hypocrisy at full display and only after that, it’s a detective murder mystery.

The most politico-religiously heavy messaging in a whodunit in a recent time. It’s an appeal through this popular Netflix murder mystery franchise with a sophisticated suave detective in the form of Daniel Craig by Rian Johnson that the infighting between conservatives and liberals is just a front for the power grab and money, rich businessmen and politicians trying to set the narrative so that these snake oil salesman could sell and flee closing up shop. Problem is- it uses Benoit Blanc too little and taps into the familiar used story devices in the form of metacinema, intertextuality and inspiration from the giants. The strengths of this part are- lyric-format deep philosophical dialogues, gothic setting, surroundings and architecture, clever use of lighting akin to plays, spooky atmosphere and two fantastic performances by Josh O’Connor and Glenn Close.

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