Despite my mostly positive reviews of prior entries in the series, I'd been putting this one off. I'm a practicing Catholic, and Hollywood rarely depicts the Church in a kind light. Even members of other religions have reported WUDM rubbing them the wrong way -- and indeed, director Rian Johnson says he likes to make polarizing pictures that annoy much of the audience. But this one is still popular overall, and my curiosity about a cultural phenomenon won out.
During a Good Friday service in a small New York town, controversial Msgr. Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) is found stabbed to death under seemingly impossible circumstances. The police chief (Mila Kunis) is inclined to arrest junior Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), who has a history of violence and notably locked horns with Wicks. But famed PI Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) thinks Jud, while no angel, doesn't act like the guilty party. He enlists Jud's help in gathering clues. The case gets freakier still come Easter....
Who besides Jud might want to kill Wicks? Quite a few regular congregants, actually. They all have their dark side, and he had threatened to expose them, seal of confession be damned. They include his devoted assistant (Glenn Close), a drunken doctor (Jeremy Renner), a lawyer (Kerry Washington), her podcasting adopted son (Daryl McCormack), a declining author (Andrew Scott), a groundskeeper (Thomas Haden Church), and a cellist in a wheelchair hoping for a miracle cure (Cailee Spaeny). I suspect that the bigger names are the main reason a flick low on special effects cost nine figures to make. Too bad most don't get enough attention for our interest.
Wicks, a fire-and-brimstone aggressor who made a point to drive out visitors (kinda like Johnson?), does not remind me of any Catholic priest. In fact, he doesn't seem like a real person to me. The Knives Out series has always been big on satire, but this time it goes overboard. It also focuses more clearly on tearing into conservatives, not liberals at all.
At least Blanc has become a little more likable. He has slightly improved in etiquette. He may have a low opinion of all Abrahamic faiths, but he almost humbly comes to see the value in Jud's pious forgiveness. I guess this is the most respect the Church could expect from the likes of Johnson. I also appreciate Blanc's new appearance, with longer hair and a beard, looking less immediately like James Bond.
As a mystery, it works a bit better than Glass Onion, if only because Blanc doesn't get any key information before we do. I did predict a few details, partly because a cartoony movie can't help telegraphing some points. (Yes, outright cartoon movies can still surprise me.) As a comedy, it's rather lacking. If anything's better than ever, it's the thriller element, with a higher body count than either previous entry.
WUDM ends up decently entertaining, but it doesn't make me look forward to a fourth. Maybe if another director takes a crack at it...
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