Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
He works in mysterious ways.
What’s better for the holidays then a murder? Literally probably almost anything - but a murder mystery? Chefs kiss, we all love guessing who and why. Tonight’s entry might be lacking the snow, but hey - it takes place close to home (or at least closer to actual home than most movies do) in grand old New York. Yes, there is more up here than the city. Anyways, get your white collars and you knives out, it’s time to Wake Up Dead Man.
Our classy detective fellow is back - but he won’t actually be in the movie for a while. For now, we have to get through setup, a history of the events leading up to a murder where any detail could be hidden in any scene as it’s all recollected by a father (the priesthood kind). It all starts when the ex-boxer priest looses his cool and punches a fellow quite a few steps up the holy chain than him - and after a review, he’s been given a second chance out in New York where the local pastoral lead seems to be doing a good job of not maintaining his flock. One might preach it isn’t the size that counts, but not all segments of the priesthood would concur it seems. Upon meeting, the two don’t quite get along the best - the resident father is a bit of a handful, and his views clash a good deal with the forgive and improve of our younger ex-boxer priest. Meet the rest of the cast and get dropped all manner of details, because when the resident priest turns up dead, all eyes are pointing at the new guy.
Acting is well done here. None of this series has been bad in my opinion, although this one certainly could feel a little bit like a it’s pulled back and on the level compared to rich people islands and the likes. Our lead is actually the new priest, with plenty of the main side crew getting brief moments to try and push through the character traits to the audience. Even our detective doesn’t show up until what feels like a good chunk of the movie - although perhaps that’s just because it’s usually post-detective that the real shenanigans begin and the energy levels raise up a bit. Still, weather it’s crotchety, reigning in strong emotions and instincts, or overall just banter betwixt each other people do a good job with whatever amount of screen time they actually have. Sure, it feels much like my normal canned line about how performances don’t really feel all that much like anyone is chasing an award here - but they still do good and the way they act out the characters helps to add to the movie and the little details that add up as hints towards eventual revelations.
Characters are there, and they all have their own motivations and goals - although more so towards existence then committing murder. It’s an interesting case in the sense that Until the mid-movie reveal, it really does seem that the only one with murderous intent would be our new priest - which in turn makes the mystery feel that much nicer given we know that it really shouldn’t have been him considering we just watched him not do it - but then again, perhaps it’s all a trick of a faulty narrator? For the most part, I’d say characters do have traits and relationships and the likes, but I also don’t feel every character is some sort of character study. It’s enough depth - especially with how it plays into the priests beliefs - to not make it feel drab and boring paper cut outs, but I also don’t feel it’s ever going to hit a level where a given character is going to drag you in like some classic noir “and then she walked in” stint. It’s people, and they feel like people, and good or bad they all have their types.
Couple of fathers
Those types, on the other hand, could easily be seen as having a lot to say about society. The way the two priests interact with said folks could be seen as having a lot to say about religion as well. Now we all know I don’t really turn on my thinking cap for movies, but it’s not hard to see some of the classic things in there - the spiteful man, the prepper/conspiracy guy, the looking for a miracle, the woman having to set aside her life for motherhood (although in this case it’s not really her kid, but that thread is pretty bluntly brought up later in the movie) which also ties a bit into the image of women and how they can get oppressed by men’s actions. The fire and brimstone versus the help and heal faith approaches. The separation of man and church. I mean, there’s a ton of stuff in there even without the who murdered a person and how did they do it parts of the movie that I watched it for.
The murder part is well done, and I like how at the end when it’s all explained it plays out in rather interesting way whilst also landing on some of those topical moments like misinterpretation and monkey-paw style “getting what you wished for.” It also runs you through all the times it was actually telling you how things were playing out that you probably didn’t notice even as you saw them because it was just missing some key detail to make you think it was important. Heck, I had a good leg of the movie pegged a bit early on, only to find out that although I had the general idea right, I had a good deal of the details twisted. Surely, the quicker witted will figure it out easy enough even if they don’t have the details right - but I always love when the mystery knows what a person is going to be thinking and somehow weaponizes your expectations against you. Of course, the good acting helps in that regard when you learn all the subtext to everyone’s actions - but you can’t know what you don’t know as they say.
Settings are good and relatively varied all considering. We get a bunch of inside and outside shots, the insides of various buildings look distinct from one another enough you don’t get confused at all, and characters all look different enough that you won’t get them confused either. I will say, it’s a modern movie with modern attire, so despite the most elaborate thing being the fancier priest robes, it all is doing a good job of being well done costumes. Music is in a similar boat of doing what it should be doing without standing out too awful much.
someone here may be a murderer.
It’s a fun movie. The others were also fun, so it’s fair to say if you enjoyed those you’ll enjoy this one as well, albeit this one does feel somewhat different then the other ones. I could actually see the more “thoughtful” elements being a good draw for some folks, giving them plenty to associate with or talk about. The murder mystery itself is well done, with plenty of setup that by the end doesn’t feel like it comes out of nowhere and is reasonably thought out. Heck, I even think I did a pretty good job of not spoiling anything, so even if you have read this and it seemed interesting you can go in there and have all the fun you should with a whodunnit. Go play Agatha Christie for a bit -it’s a great way of bonding while being entertained!