Benoit Blanc tackles his biggest mystery yet in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third entry in writer/director Rian Johnson’s star-studded sleuthing series. Blanc, of course, is the suave Southern gent with the stylish suits and exaggerated drawl played by Daniel Craig with wit, panache and flashes of mischief. He is called in to help Police Chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) solve a murder that occurs during a Catholic church service in the village of Chimney Rock, a setting transported from an Agatha Christie novel, complete with a small neo-Gothic church and adjacent graveyard. Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), a former boxer turned priest, who as punishment for a violent outburst is sent to the tiny parish village. But instead of meeting some kindly vicar, Jud goes to work for Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a wild-haired, fiery, charismatic church leader who wields power over his congregation, using fear and shame to knit them closer to him.  

No one is what they seem, and part of the mystery is wondering who is wearing the falsest mask: Glenn Close, as Martha Delacroix, a devout believer who does everything from keeping the books and filing away documents to playing the organ at Mass and laundering the Monsignor’s vestments; Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), a bestselling author whose stock has plummeted; accomplished cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), whose career ended when a chronic nerve condition put her in a wheelchair; Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), a failed politician, always armed with a small camera and mic to capture YouTube content; town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner); successful attorney Vera Draven (Kerry Washington) and longtime groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), who has something going on with Martha. 

Giving detective Benoit Blanc a worthy mystery with its genuinely soulful fixation on faith and a scene-stealing Josh O’Connor performance, Wake Up Dead Man is another Knives Out puzzle that comes together splendidly.  Fun, funny, and phenomenal, the film solidifies writer-director Rian Johnson as the Agatha Christie of the murder-mystery movie.