Though I've never seen any of the other Knives Out movies, Wake Up Dead Man was actually the entire I went to TIFF 2025. One of my dear friends is a big fan of the series, and because they live close enough to visit, I asked if they'd be interested in going since it was pretty likely the movie would premiere at the festival a few months early.
They were on board, and thus began my TIFF Experience overall: one where I woke up excessively early on a supposed vacation, the fact that I was sick be damned, and queued on the TIFF website to try and get tickets.
I tried every day of the presale, to no avail, and that was when we made our decision to get Rush passes.
With no guarantee of getting in, we lined up for Wake Up Dead Man's World Premiere screening. We weren't anywhere near the front of the line, and our chances were low, so we spent most of the waiting period looking for last-minute tickets as our only shot.
(In the end, we got lucky: someone in the line outside had upgraded their seats, and was willing to sell us their original tickets. The exchange was made, and we got in just before the last minute.)
With the story of why I'm watching this before the others out of the way, let's get into the film itself:
The opening moments of Rian Johnson's latest film, and my introduction to his work, remind me distinctly of the sports anime we often watched in my high school's anime club. The opening scene even takes place in a basketball court (one which may be familiar to anyone who's ever seen a certain Rick Astley music video).
Our protagonist and point of view character, Jud, is an instant underdog with the same sort of spirit, heart, and drive I associate with those shows. An actual former boxer who has the attitude of a kid begging the coach to put him on the field, except that in this story the field in question is the Catholic church.
(Religion and spirituality are a core focus of the narrative and the themes of the story, though not in a way that I, someone who has never been Catholic and was only theoretically raised to be religious, ever struggled to follow or understand. Still, if those are themes you struggle with for any reason, that's something to be aware of beforehand.)
The movie takes its time setting up the eventual locked-room murder mystery (a classic concept, and one I'm personally immediately invested in). Early on, it's instead focused on establishing the eventual victim and each of the suspects as characters in their own right, with history and desires of their own.
As I said, I haven't seen the other Knives Out movies, so I can't comment on those. But at least in this one, detective Benoit Blanc doesn't appear until some time into the film (when the murder finally takes place), which means that the aforementioned suspects and victim are instead introduced to us and characterized through their interactions with Jud; who, rather than being a detective or any other inherently combative/antagonistic force, is simply an unwelcome newcomer to their small town community, and specifically to their church.
The story takes several twists and turns, sure to entertain anyone looking for a good time, and yet it also never feels unfair to those who enjoy trying to solve the mystery before the pieces come together; which is, in my opinion, a difficult thing for a mystery to manage.
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