Watched Wake Up Dead Man, enjoyed it very much, so far the Benoit Blanc/Knives Out movies are three for three and I remain excited for any additional ones that get made in the future
I've seen it described as the best mystery and worst supporting cast of the three movies, and yeah, that sounds about right tbh. Great movie, and some of the cast really crushed it, but some of the cast members (aka suspects) really didn't have a whole lot to do or add compared to others. Still a great movie though, definitely the most mature and intense of the three, and it had some very definite things to say. Not the blanket statement that Religion Bad, but that there are people (far too many) who use religion as a tool to hate and control, and religion is supposed to be there to welcome all people and provide them with love, support, and community. As well as statements about misogyny, abuse, social media and misinformation, et cetera.
Also wanna give a shout out to the fact that this is the first movie I've ever seen that had a character with chronic pain syndrome, and who uses a mobility device (a proper independent self-propelled wheelchair at that) to deal with it. As well as the exasperation of people not understanding her use of said wheelchair, and the frustration of dealing with a condition that's hard to diagnose and even harder to treat.
But I think the thing that tickled me most personally was the fact that this movie and all the characters in it are very genre aware. The first movie was literally about the death of a whodunnit novelist, and the second movie had everybody gathering for a murder mystery party, but WUDM explicitly talks about murder mystery fiction (classic staple of whodunnits: somebody in it talks about murder mystery fiction at some point either as an influence/fandom or in a meta "this isn't a detective novel!" sense). Blanc literally calls the murder that happened a locked room mystery, and talks about the famous locked room mystery The Hollow Man in particular (which is now on my reading list) and the possible methods that could be used in such a case. And then there's the reading list!
This got a big grin out of me (I did the DiCaprio pointing at the screen bit when I saw the brief reference to a Lord Peter Wimsey novel), because with the exception of The Hollow Man, I've read all of these books. They're all locked room mysteries (which I recommend), and being familiar with them, when I look back over the movie, it's like, damn. You really can see their inspiration in how the movie plays out, and on how the characters (who have also all read the books) do the things they do. And if you're able to think about it quickly while watching the movie play out, the list helps you figure out what's going on before the big reveal happens. The unreliable narrator, switching certain things around, all kinds of stuff. It also helps if you're familiar with other Christie works like And Then There Were None, because that influence is also in there. Alongside the more straightforward themes of the movie, WUDM really is a huge love letter to a particular type of whodunnit novel, and I love that.
Heck, even though it's just briefly, Blanc even wears a hat and overcoat that makes him look very strongly like an old-timey detective straight out of a novel. I hope these movies keep coming, because we all need a little grace in our lives, and also murder mysteries with a bunch of weird assholes gathered together in a big weird house/church where a gay little detective does a denouement at them.