Between the Knives Out film series and his Peacock show Poker Face, Rian Johnson is single-handedly keeping the murder mystery genre alive. When it was released in 2019, the first Knives Out was hailed as reviving the classic whodunit for a new generation, creating a detective for the ages in Daniel Craig’s southern-fried gumshoe Benoit Blanc. The sequel, 2022’s Glass Onion, was slightly less rapturously received, but still proved the budding franchise had legs.
This year, the much-anticipated third film in the series, Wake Up Dead Man, is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before landing on Netflix in December, and the warm reception to the first two films means that expectations are sky-high. Time will tell if Benoit Blanc’s third case is as beloved as the first two, but they’re already set up for success.
‘Wake Up Dead Man’s Gothic Style
Whereas the first Knives Out felt like an updated take on the Agatha Christie-style drawing room mystery, and Glass Onion was a satire of a more modern type of out-of-touch wealthy class, Wake Up Dead Man is shaping up to have a style all its own. From its Gothic font to the gray, gloomy style of its promo material, the third film looks like it will swap Glass Onion’s gleaming tech mansion for a darker, more horror-inflected tone.
This is an exciting prospect, since one of the series’ greatest strengths so far has been the wildly different settings and tones of the first two films. While Knives Out proved the whodunit still had appeal and Glass Onion showed that Benoit Blanc could fit into a vastly different world, there’s almost more pressure on Wake Up Dead Man to prove that the franchise and the character have staying power in the long term. Giving each film its own particular flavor helps the series remain fresh and avoids feeling like a retread.
Judging by the imposing Gothic cathedral glimpsed in its teaser, it seems that Wake Up Dead Man will be situated far from Blanc’s usual locale, possibly even across the pond in the UK, where it was filmed. Part of the fun of the character comes from seeing him navigate different environments, his earnest southern charm (and Craig’s wildly entertaining accent) making him feel like a fish out of water no matter where he is. Placing such a colorful character in a more stately, grandiose setting has a lot of potential, and Craig’s already made Blanc a character worth following.
One of the other pleasures of the series so far has been its diverse, star-studded casts, and Wake Up Dead Man looks like no exception. Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, and Josh Brolin have all been announced, along with a murderer’s row of other famous faces. Similar to Johnson’s Poker Face, where a well-placed guest star made each episode memorable, a cast of ringers only builds anticipation.
Why the ‘Knives Out’ Series Has Staying Power
While the first two films proved that there is still an appetite for these kinds of mystery stories, Benoit Blanc may very well end up with the kind of longevity enjoyed by other sleuths, like Sherlock Holmes or Christie’s Hercule Poirot. The character and star are extremely fun to watch, regardless of the movie they’re in, and Johnson has more than proven himself to be a master of intricate plots with satisfying payoffs. While the overall structure may be familiar, there’s a lot of room to fill that structure with interesting details and compelling characters that it basically never feels stale.
Johnson is the rare kind of filmmaker who clearly loves the source material he’s drawing from, while also having the ability to subvert it when necessary. He’s a master of story structure, introducing some mysterious new element before doubling back to show how it fits into the larger plot, a style that has also helped make Poker Face such a fun watch. One of the funniest moments in Glass Onion comes early, when Blanc is able to immediately solve the fake murder mystery that Miles Bron (Edward Norton) painstakingly set up.
At the same time, part of what makes these kinds of stories so satisfying is that they do have an element of familiarity, and Johnson is smart enough to know that a good mystery needs a good payoff. It’s not so much that the audience is worried that Blanc won’t find the killer or that his own life may be in danger, but the pleasure comes from seeing how all the pieces begin to fit together. When it comes to a good mystery, the devil is in the details, and as long as those details balance well with the expected story arc, it remains an endlessly malleable genre. Johnson has proven he’s more than up to the task.
Unless they can get to Toronto next month, fans still have a few months to wait for Wake Up Dead Man. If Johnson and company can continue to design engaging new cases for Benoit Blanc to solve, there’s no reason to think the franchise couldn’t run for many more installments. Craig obviously has a ton of fun in the role, and both he and Johnson have said they’ll keep making them as long as they can. For those who love a good mystery, that’s happy news indeed.
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