Wake Up Dead Man: Christian faith vs. Religious wolves
Can God work through unbelievers? That's the question I felt "Wake Up Dead Man," the third installment of the "Knives Out" mystery series, asked — and answered. One that many Christian reviews seem to have missed.
Here’s my take: A “Wake Up Dead Man: Knives Out” Christian review of the faith-based themes.
Rating: PG-13
Watch: On Netflix.
** Spoilers below **
➡️ Looking for faith-based films? Check out our guide to 100+ Christian movies to watch.
Copyright Disclaimer
Copyrighted material (images/stills) is used under the "Fair Use" doctrine of U.S. Copyright Law (Section 107 of the Copyright Act), for the purpose of criticism, commentary, and review.
All image credits: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).
Table of Contents ▼
1. ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ is a dark comedy that explores religion vs. faith
“Wake Up Dead Man” follows a young priest, Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), who is asked to revive and rejuvenate a “calcified” congregation run by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) in upstate New York.
After Wicks is killed during a mass, Jud eventually becomes the main suspect, and the local sheriff (Mila Kunis) is determined to arrest him.
The whole town believes Jud did it, which is central to the point I want to make. But as the film begins, and the story unfolds, we don't yet know that. We won't for a while.
Instead, after the murder happened during Good Friday mass, we find Jud on his knees, ego set aside, humbly asking for God’s help.
“Jesus. Help me,” the priest whispers. “Show me the way through this, please.”
There’s a noise in the back, and Jud hears a New Orleans drawl.
“Helloooooo?”
Young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor) and atheist detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).
2. A Christian take: Addressing the deeper question of faith before solving the crime
Atheist detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) saunters up to Jud, and before they get to the question of Wick’s murder, they first discuss the deeper issue the film explores — religion vs God.
“My mother is, was, very religious,” Blanc says as a means of explanation.
In fact, he is a “proud heretic” who “kneels at the altar of the rational.”
Jud is the opposite. A former boxer who killed someone in the ring, this young man turned to God and became a priest.
Jud recognized his need for a Savior and found forgiveness and redemption in Jesus Christ.
So we have Blanc, who sees his mother’s religion, likely the same religion of men like Wick, who have used it to advance themselves. To bolster their ego in the name of power or fame.
And we have Jud, the young priest who understands true freedom comes when you lay your ego down, when you surrender to a higher power, and you ask Jesus for help.
Blanc launches into a monologue and I want you to remember the phrase he uses: “Shouting a story at me.”
“Well, the architecture interests me. I feel the grandeur. The mystery, the intended emotional effect.
“And it's like someone is shouting a story at me that I do not believe, that's built on the empty promise of a child's fairy tale, filled with malevolence, misogyny, and homophobia, and that's justified by untold violence and cruelty while hiding its own shameful acts.
“So like an ornery mule kicking back, I want to pick it apart, pop its perfidious bubble of belief, and get to a truth I can swallow without choking.”
And then, because this is a comedy, Blanc admires the fine craftsmanship and details of the church rafters.
Atheist detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) goes through his own transformation in the movie Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).
As I re-read his speech, it’s obvious that Blanc is against a certain type of religion.
He’s listed many of the reasons atheists and agnostics don’t believe in God.
And yet …
3. Who sent Blanc to investigate Wick’s murder in ‘Wake Up Dead Man?’
One of the questions that went unanswered in the film — I assume, by design — is why Blanc is even talking to Jud in the first place.
The world’s foremost private detective has “taken an interest” in a murder case that hasn’t made the evening news?
Nor was he hired by tech billionaires, as he was in the previous Knives Out movies.
I don’t recall an explanation, but instead, an implied reason: As an unexpected answer to Jud’s prayer.
Blanc’s goal may be to solve the crime and to keep an innocent man out of jail, but there might be something bigger unfolding here.
Is God at work? It’s a Christian theme I believe the film explores as God can work through unbelievers, too.
Msgr. Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).
4. The Bible reflects the world and God’s truth: The film’s Christian theme is clear to see
“Wake Up Dead Man” is a dark comedy that showcases an unfortunate truth of this world that’s also described in the Bible.
Some church leaders will use religion to stroke their ego, preying on the very flock they are meant to keep safe as pastoral shepherds.
Not all, but some.
This is one of the reasons I believe in the validity of the Bible: Scripture doesn’t describe the world as I wish it were.
Instead, the Bible describes the reality of the world — including warning about charlatans like Wicks — and it promises a path home through Jesus.
“Watch out for false prophets,” Jesus says in Matthew 7:15 (NIV). “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
Monsignor Wicks is the wolf dressed as a sheep, a metaphor the movie slightly skews.
Wicks is a religious leader gone astray, the wolf ready to win through fight instead of love.
He believes that everyone who is not “with him” are wolves who are “against him.”
Like so many manipulators seeking their own glory, he forces people to take sides.
Wicks wants Jud to join him in the fight — something Jud, as a true believer, resists.
Young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor) must decide if he will fight the world, as Msgr. Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) has decided to do.
Or will he humble himself as Christ did? (Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).)
Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, as this insular small church is called, is not meant to represent all churches or congregations.
This film is a comedy. And as all comedies do, it takes things to the extreme.
Just look at how the movie's symbolism is an over-the-top portrayal of religion without Jesus:
There’s no cross above the alter. All you can see is a shadow where Jesus should be.
The Catholic church is "closed" on Easter Sunday.
The congregation is “dead” and stagnant, and as the name’s film implies, needs to be reborn to faith.
5. The unfortunate Biblical truth of a wolf in sheep’s clothing (ahem, Msgr. Wicks)
Each Sunday, Msgr. Wicks stands at the podium, as Blanc so aptly described before, “shouting a story at me that I do not believe.”
The single mom gets up to leave.
The gay couple storms out.
Wicks would rather scream at everything he believes is wrong — pointing out all the flaws and mistakes of each newcomer —until they get up and walk away.
Wicks is so focused on belittling others that he can’t see his own shortcomings and need for grace.
His own need for Jesus on the cross.
And if Wicks can’t see his need for a Savior, how can he possibly lead others to Jesus?
Members of the Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude Catholic Church as portrayed in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).
Through his cult of personality, Wicks instead focuses on his ego-driven “shouting” each Sunday to further his control of the loyal few who remain.
Something Blanc described earlier as the religion he despises.
Instead of leading people to Christ, as Jud wants to do, Wicks is focused on the culture war. And power. And himself.
By fighting the “wolves” Wicks sees outside the church walls, he’s actually separating his followers from the grace and love they actually need — leaving them unprotected and easy prey.
Cue all the stereotypes of religious people being led astray:
Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), the church secretary who is always busy but never sits with Jesus.
Dr. Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), the morally corrupt and drunken town doctor
Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), who’s fallen hook, line, and sinker for Wick’s cult of personality
Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), the political wanna-bee who’s put Wicks on a pedestal of power — power he wishes he could have one day
Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), who’s still, begrudgingly, trying to please her dad, who’s since passed away
Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), who’s suffering from mysterious pain and willing to do anything — including hand over her life savings — if there’s even a hint of a miracle
6. Jesus advised we look for the fruit of a true church. So where’s the fruit of this church?
Someone once told me that a true church is a hospital for the spiritual broken and wounded.
At a healthy church, you should see spiritual healing. Spiritual “fruit,” as Jesus describes it during the Sermon on the Mount:
“Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit,” Matthew 7:17-18 (NIV).
That’s the opposite of the church portrayed in “Wake Up Dead Man.”
The film’s church is full of dark secrets and a version of Christianity that Rev. Jud Duplenticy is determined to fight against (a decision that creates enough fodder for him to become the prime suspect as the film unfolds).
The worst parts of religion are on display. I can see why many reviewers have criticized its portrayal of the church.
But I tend to agree with the people who have called this one of the best movies about grace.
Grace works not through might or force of will, but through love - God’s love.
7. Discovering the grace of Christ: Is God working silently to soften an atheist’s heart?
At its heart, “Wake Up Dead Man” is a movie about a priest who’s lost his way — and the atheist detective that (I believe) God sent to help.
Young priest, Rev. Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), and atheist detective, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).
Eventually, Jud realizes that he’s not meant to solve the crime.
He’s not meant to battle the culture war.
He’s not meant to fight.
He’s meant to be a priest.
He’s meant to love through compassion and grace. To show others a glimpse of Jesus through his actions and words.
“You’re setting me against my 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,” Jud says to Blanc.
“Otherwise, I’m just as bad as Wicks, making it about me, not Jesus.”
“Can you say that again?” Blanc asks.
“When Wicks talked about fighting the world for Christ, he wasn’t talking about Christ,” Jud replies.
“He was talking about his own ego and power. He was never talking about Christ.”
8. God answers the young priest’s humble prayer through an unbelieving detective
In the end, Blanc uses his keen observation and logic to put all the pieces together and solve this “whodunit.”
And the atheist detective helps the young priest, answering a prayer Blanc never heard Jud whisper.
A prayer God answers all the same.
There is so much to unpack here (the Christ-like figure of Jud, the Paul-like figure of Blanc, the Martha-like figure of Martha … but I digress.)
Rev. Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor) in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).
Which brings me back to my main point: That this isn’t so much a murder mystery as a film about God working through an unbeliever to help a faithful servant.
A film about God’s use of love and grace - not force or fight - to bring people to him.
A movie about God working through the terrible circumstances of a broken world, despite the horrible things people do, for good.
Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc may think he's there to identify the guilty.
But I believe Blanc’s really there to answer the prayer of Rev. Jud Duplenticy.
A prayer that serves as the catalyst to right a church going the wrong direction through a terrible turn of events.
9. God is here and ready to help, but often works in unexpected and perplexing ways
And, might I suggest, God may be up to more than meets the eye in this fictional story.
I believe God was working through the film’s events to soften the heart of investigator Benoit Blanc just a bit.
Maybe the screenwriter intended it that way, maybe not. But hear me out.
Just when Blanc is about to name the killer — the hallmark scene of every murder mystery — a stream of light shines through the stained glass window.
Blanc has an epiphany.
A Paul-like “Road to Damascus” moment, he say.
Blanc pauses, considers his choices, and for the first time in the “Knives Out” series, he sets aside his ego.
Instead of pointing out the killer, he lets the guilty confess.
I’m sure that's not a simple nor easy thing to do for an internationally known detective.
“My revelation came from Father Jud,” Blanc says. “His example to have grace.
“Grace for my enemy. Grace for the broken.
“Grace for those who deserve it the least and need it the most. For the guilty.”
Atheist detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has a 'Road to Damascus' moment in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix, 2025).
Blanc still doesn’t believe in God, but it seems he’s taken the first step.
And the second.
He’s discovered authentic grace through the example of a young priest.
And his heart responds by setting his own ego aside, perhaps for the first time.
10. With a softened heart, will Blanc investigate the greatest mystery of all?
At the end of the day, I can't help but wonder if Blanc would eventually put the pieces together and see Christ the same way Jud sees Christ.
If this fictional story were continued, would Blanc investigate the difference between religion and faith?
Would he discover that the faith of his new friend, Jud, is different than his mother’s religion? Or Wick’s?
That all the things Blanc hates about their twisted form of religion are the same things Jesus warned us about?
“Wake Up Dead Man” is the third film, the last installment of the “Knives Out” series, so we'll never know for sure.
But I'd like to think Blanc would ask the tough questions. That he’d take up the bigger challenge.
He's a world-renowned detective, after all. And what greater question is there than the mystery of faith?
➡️ Have questions about Christianity?
A great place to start is “The Case For Christ” by Lee Strobel or the movie of the same name. It’s the true story of an investigative journalist exploring the evidence for Christ.
Discover more Christian movies
➡️ The best Christian films to watch (100+ options)
Inspiring sports movies
➡️ Great Christian sports movies (70+ options)
➡️ 21 Christian football movies
More Christian movies
➡️ 47 Christian movies based on true stories
➡️ 20 great Christian romance movies
➡️ Top 23 Christian movies of 2024
➡️ Read our Christian review and reflection of “Wake Up Dead Man: Knives Out”
Join our newsletter
➡️ Want uplifting Christian encouragement? Join our newsletter and receive Christian testimonies, movie and book guides, as well as Christian gift recommendations.
Mackenzie Ryan Walters is the author of “Faith Storytellers: Unleash the Power of Your Story” and the editor of the Faith Storytellers website, which publishes Christian testimonies and curated lists of Christian books, gifts, and more. A national award-winning former education journalist who’s covered a presidential campaign and been inside NASA, Mackenzie is passionate about lifting up and sharing the story God is writing in the world.