When young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.
Rated 3.8 / 5 from 6 logs on Katalog
It’s a good movie, and after the slog that was Knives Out 2, a genuine relief. It’s been a year of disappointing releases—with a few exceptions—so it’s nice to be surprised in a pleasant direction. I have two nitpicks, and I’m aware they may be entirely my problem. First: I don’t think this director knows how to handle an ensemble. The issue has been present across all three films. In the first, the Agatha Christie, old-school sheen disguises it: you accept the supporting cast as props, pieces on a Cluedo board. In the second, the writing is so bland and one-dimensional that nobody feels underused; the whole thing is equally underseasoned. I found myself having to remember that Edward Norton can, in fact, act. Here, though, the flaw is exposed. The film has Andrew Scott and gives him a one-note paranoid eccentric—complete with an actual moat—and surrounds him with similarly thin sketches: a cellist bargaining with God for her health; a Black lawyer raising an influencer child. None of it lands. Everyone—except Glenn Close’s Martha—feels like background noise, and asking Andrew Scott to do that much with that little should be prosecutable. Any of them could have been swapped out with a different actor and nothing would change. Second, which stitches neatly onto the first: Josh O’Connor’s Father Judd outgrows the film. Outgrows Benoit Blanc, frankly. Rian Johnson has a real connection to Christianity—complicated, tender, and recognizable to people who either outgrow religion or appreciate it sideways, through culture. In Father Judd, he writes what is most beautiful in the faith: forgiveness, peace, purpose, compassion. Love. O’Connor takes that material and runs with it—far, and exactly in the right direction. The result is a protagonist too large for the story he’s been placed in. At a certain point, I stop caring about the parish politics, the gimmicky switcheroo murder, any of these people. I care about Father Judd. When he says, “I’m a priest. I’m here to serve these people, not condemn them,” I’m with him. Why are you yapping at me, Benoit Blanc? Do your job. Let me listen to the nice priest in peace.
It has the heart of the first one, everything that the second one doesn’t, which is everything, and more depth than both, which really adds to the fun mystery. I didn’t expect that, from all the roles I’ve seen him in so far, this will be the one that will get me on board with Josh O’Connor. It’s witty and meta, which is sometimes fun, sometimes a bit forced. I liked the perspective it was exploring, exploitation of power and hope by the cruel and charismatic, but wealth still plays a big role, which is alright but, after the first two movies, makes it a bit repetitive.
Knives Out is officially fun again! With a stacked cast as always, there's a pretty creative whodunnit here. That being said, I can't believe you'd cast Andrew Scott and ||do almost nothing with him.|| It was good but the ||circle of sycophants was ultimately kinda irrelevant, we figured out it'd be Glenn Close quite early on, though obviously not the quite convoluted way that it played out, some stuff was shoehorned in like Jud being shellshocked at night and believing he committed murder. Why? Just because it helps the story? The camera footage showed it was a pretty calm series of events, adding a strobe effect doesn't make the characters immediately completely disoriented, and this was a pretty key plot point.|| So overall good, but not a MUST for whodunnit fans Josh O'Connor was great
Fantastic entry into the series. At first I was concerned, was this going to be another #[movie:648878:Eddington (2025)] but worse? Thankfully my concerns were swiftly alleviated. The mystery is compelling from both a puzzle perspective, but also thematically. Josh O'Connor as father Jud is very much the main character, representing an idealised version of a religious leader. He's unexpectedly pitted against Josh Brolin's Monsignor Wicks, who's very much the exact opposite. They both do a great job. Benoit only shows up almost an entire hour into the film, and as with both the previous films this is for the better. I think Craig's character works best as a sort of guide for new and interesting leads, he's just a bit too shallow and "perfect" to carry a film on his own. I won't go into too much detail as it's a murder mystery where the murder takes a while to happen. Practically my only complaint is that some attempts at humour come off as a bit too preachy and circlejerky and that most of the "flock" is a bit underutilised. The actual murderer isn't really difficult to predict, it's more of a question of how it was done. Definitely worth a watch, might be even better than the OG!
