Mixing politics, religion, murder, and mystery with edge-of-your-seat suspense and unexpected emotional weight, one film stands out as a must-watch release of 2025. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery marks the return of Daniel Craig's razor-sharp sleuth Benoit Blanc as the third film in the Knives Out franchise, and this time, the case may be his most perilous yet. The story begins with a shocking death.

A powerful monsignor is found dead under suspicious circumstances, setting off a tangled investigation filled with secrets, lies, unexpected twists, and moral contradictions. As Blanc works his way through a web of suspects, every character appears to have something to hide and nothing is quite what it seems.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Wake Up Dead Man is the third entry in the hugely popular Knives Out franchise, following Knives Out (2019) and Glass Onion (2022).

While it stands entirely on its own, the film deepens Blanc's world, placing him in a darker, more dangerous mystery than ever before.

Daniel Craig once again commands the screen, but he's joined by a stellar cast that includes Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church. Each performance adds another layer of tension and intrigue to a story that constantly keeps viewers guessing.

Wake Up Dead Man balances classic whodunit thrills with biting commentary, weaving political and religious undertones into its twisting narrative.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025, and arrived on Netflix on December 12, and has now earned a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads: "Giving Benoit Blanc a worthy mystery with its genuinely soulful fixation on faith and a scene-stealing Josh O'Connor performance, Wake Up Dead Man is another Knives Out puzzle that comes together splendidly."

One viewer rated gave the film a perfect 10/10 score on IMDb and wrote: "I really hope people will never take Rian Johnson and all that he does for granted.

"The care and attention to detail he puts into his films is unmatched. A story this smart and this layered has no business being as entertaining and funny (and even at times emotional) as 'Wake Up Dead Man' was. This film is a masterpiece."

Someone else called the film "undeniably the best mystery movie of the decade," while another said it features "one of the greatest twists in movie history."

Another person on Rotten Tomatoes said on Rotten Tomatoes that the film was "absolutely glorious."