Daniel Craig earns praise for ‘electric’ performance in new Knives Out sequel

Rian Johnson’s latest film has been praised for finding its footing again

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has been branded a “blast” after its premiere, with the cast, including Daniel Craig, earning rave reviews from critics.

The film, the third in director Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series, debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and marks Daniel Craig’s latest turn as enigmatic detective Benoit Blanc.

Wake Up Dead Man focuses on Blanc investigating a murder case at a local church. Incorporating themes of religion and the macabre, departing from the Agatha Christie style of the first two films and embracing a darker mystery resembling Edgar Allen Poe’s work.

Alongside Craig are new additions to the cast, including Josh O’Connor as the young priest Jud Duplenticy, Josh Brolin as the Monsignor, and Glenn Close as a parishioner.

Daniel Craig and Josh O’Connor star in ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ (Netflix)

Wake Up Dead Man has been called: “Arguably Johnson’s darkest, most intricate and most star-studded Knives Out mystery yet.”

Variety’s Owen Glieberman wrote: “This one is more rooted and organic than ‘Glass Onion,’ and it returns us to the trap-door-of-reality ingenuity of the first film.”

The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee calls it “a series that’s really found its footing again, a wealth of fun to be had in ways that are constantly surprising, a franchise fully woken up”.

Praising O’Connor and Craig for their on-screen dynamic, Awards Watch’s Ryan McQuade wrote: “O’Connor and Craig have electric, insanely believable chemistry, and with that, the audience can buy into their journey down the rabbit hole with every fun zig and zag along the way.”

Johnson himself called Wake Up Dead Man Benoit Blanc’s “most personal journey yet.”

“He’s forced to engage with the case – and with himself – in a way that’s completely new,” the Breaking Bad director added in an interview with Netflix’s Tudum. “It’s more similar to the first Knives Out in that it gets back to the real origins of the genre, which predate Agatha Christie, going back to Edgar Allan Poe. It’s still a Benoit Blanc mystery, so it’s funny and fun, but it’s set in an old stone church, there are lots of graveyards.”

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Kerry Washington and Jeremy Renner at the 'Wake Up Dead Man' premiere (Getty)

This marks Jeremy Renner’s first role since the actor’s near-fatal accident in 2023.

The Marvel actor suffered a collapsed lung and over 30 broken bones when a seven-tonne snowplow fell on him while helping a neighbour clear their driveway.

“It feels good to be back and welcomed back to the job that I love, with really great people,” the Hawkeye star shared in an interview with Variety, TIFF studios.

The film will be released in select theatres 26 November and will be available to stream on Netflix on 12 December.