Wake Up Dead Man! A Knives Out Mystery

Knives Out does religion! (Mostly spoiler free below.) And I felt it managed the skilful feat of simultaneously acknowledging the flaws and hypocrisies of the church as an institution, while paying tribute to the core ethos of Christianity and faith in general.

What for me started out as an indictment of a particular brand of Christianity in America ended up being a surprisingly touching exploration of true faith and spiritual service. As a character says near the beginning, which for me echoes what is happening in many quarters right now:

“You’re poisoning this church. And I’ll do whatever it takes to save it. To cut you out like a cancer.”

This was about one man’s hubris, vanity, and desire for power at the expense of the organisation and people he was supposed to serve. It featured characters who were archetypes of those often drawn to charismatic religious figures and followed to its logical conclusion what usually happens to each of them. By the end, it was clear that Thanos - sorry, I mean Wicks - would have betrayed all of those most loyal to him, and who had helped keep him in his position. There were other little nods throughout to a certain administration and its own exploitation of its followers, including (moderate spoiler):

“Give me four years - you could be president. Together, we could build a real empire, as father and son.”

“Like Star Wars?”

“Yeah, exactly - like the rebels.”

[Cue puzzled and disdainful look from another character.]

LOL indeed. This movie was also interwoven with its own version of the Easter story, and thoughts on religion as a concept (eg “can’t you just give us the truth” - no, because that’s not how faith works.) And swipe for the little word count joke about the novelist character’s new MS (at one point he also asks if Blanc will blurb his book - tee hee hee etc!)

I thought this was clever and I really enjoyed it, albeit not quite as much as the previous two Knives Out movies. But the bar is set very high, and it managed to continue its tradition of searing social commentary, which I was very happy about. Final quote:

“It is a game… And by using me in it, you’re setting me against my only real and only purpose in life. Which is not to fight the wicked and bring them to justice. But to serve them and bring them to Christ. Otherwise I’m just as bad as Wicks - making it about me and not Jesus.”