海角大神

鈥楰nives Out鈥� returns with a knotty case and more of Daniel Craig鈥檚 virtuoso detective

Writer-director Rian Johnson鈥檚 鈥淲ake Up Dead Man鈥� is the third in the 鈥淜nives Out鈥� series and possibly the best. It鈥檚 a return, of sorts, to the Gothic trappings of the first entry, which starred Christopher Plummer as a patriarch whose demise kicks off the murder plot. The second film, 鈥淕lass Onion,鈥� set on a sparkling Greek isle, featured Edward Norton as an Elon Musk-ish billionaire. The gorgeous scenery outshone the convoluted whodunit machinations.

鈥淲ake Up鈥� can be appreciated as an excellent example of that venerable murder mystery genre 鈥� the 鈥渋mpossible crime鈥� 鈥� in which no solution to the murder seems rational. But Johnson also has a bit more on his mind than this. Without being too strenuous about it, the film also probes the nature of religious belief.

The action leading up to the Good Friday Murder, as the film deems it, begins with the transfer of Jud Duplenticy (Josh O鈥機onnor), a Catholic priest, to a small parish in upstate New York. The reason for the transfer is that Jud, in a fit of justifiable pique, punched out a fellow priest. It is soon revealed that Jud, a former boxer, once killed a man in the ring. He sees the priesthood as his spiritual salvation.

The parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, is presided over by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a fire-and-brimstone type with a small flock of regulars. (The flock is small because he鈥檚 alienated everybody else in town.) Wicks and Jud, who attempts unsuccessfully to stage secret prayer meetings, are polar opposites: Jud is devoted to a loving God. Wicks is big on vengeance.

When the inevitable murder plot kicks in, the screen is aswarm with potential suspects from the parish 鈥� an alcoholic doctor (Jeremy Renner); a sci-fi novelist on the skids (Andrew Scott); an embittered lawyer (Kerry Washington); a celebrated former cellist who now uses a wheelchair (Cailee Spaeny); the spiky church lady (Glenn Close); and the groundskeeper (Thomas Haden Church). They all shine.

Daniel Craig鈥檚 Southern-fried virtuoso detective Benoit Blanc, the only mainstay in the franchise, unfortunately doesn鈥檛 turn up until around the 40-minute mark. But when he does, the proceedings pick up. He quickly dismisses Jud as a suspect, though the film is so replete with red herrings that nothing can be discounted. The puzzle at the heart of the investigation is: How can someone be stabbed to death while alone in a fully enclosed space with no other entry point and with all potential suspects positioned in plain view?

Blanc pooh-poohs what the parishioners regard as an unfathomable event. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just a murder,鈥� he intones to Jud, 鈥渁nd I solve murders.鈥� Debating faith with Jud inside the church, he admits he feels the grandeur of the edifice but says, 鈥淚 kneel at the altar of the rational.鈥� Jud compliments him on his honesty. He then counters with his own take on religious faith as something profoundly true. Jud is really the film鈥檚 centerpiece and, as O鈥機onnor movingly plays him, a fitting one. Jud wants to be a good priest because he believes that鈥檚 what the world so badly needs.

I don鈥檛 mean to suggest that 鈥淲ake Up鈥� is some sort of theological debate dolled up as a murder mystery. It鈥檚 more fun than that. But there is, in fact, a time-honored history of mysteries exploring religious ideas.聽(G.K. Chesterton鈥檚 Father Brown stories are prime examples.) Johnson himself in a recent interview that 鈥淚 have strong feelings about faith: both my own personal experience and how it intersects with our country鈥檚 cultural and civic life.鈥� He also clearly has some thoughts on the current state of U.S. politics. A YouTube influencer and former GOP political aspirant (Daryl McCormack) early on in the movie claims that he can help boost the rabble-rousing Wicks into the presidency in four years.

The real miracle here is that none of this heavy lifting does much to bog down the proceedings. There are lapses and lulls in the storytelling. But to put it bluntly, you can be a Blanc or a Jud and still enjoy this movie.聽

Peter Rainer is the Monitor鈥檚 film critic. 鈥淲ake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery鈥� opens in theaters Nov. 26, and will stream on Netflix starting Dec. 12. The film is rated PG-13 for聽violent content, bloody images, strong language, some crude sexual material, and smoking.