“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” is the third installment in the series. This edition is better than the previous one, but not as good as the first. Its gothic setting adds to the mood although its characters sometimes stray into caricature. The film is intricately plotted, although again sometimes too much so.

The story starts with Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) reading a hand-written document in front of a fireplace to voice-over narration. Jud (Josh O’Connor), a young priest, tells how he punched an annoying deacon in the face.

As such, Jud is called before a three-person ecclesiastical tribunal. He relates how he used to be a boxer, but now feels compelled to preach the gospel of Christ since it helped him.

Bishop Langstrom (Jeffrey Wright) later comes out to the courtyard to tell Jud that he has not been thrown out of the priesthood. Jud instead will be assigned to a church with a declining attendance in a rural area. The head priest is Msgr. Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), whom Langstrom does not particularly like.

When Jeffrey arrives, it is to a massive church. Msgr. Wicks is an outwardly friendly, yet bossy and domineering, man. Wicks has Jud give him confession, during which Wicks repeatedly talks about masturbating and lustful thoughts.

Jud introduces the devout followers of the Monseigneur in his narration. The first is Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), the parish factotum. She plays the organ and handles all the paperwork. Another church worker is the groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), who has a thing for Martha.

Then there is Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), a lawyer who has followed in the steps of her father. One day in the past Vera’s father brought home a 10-year-old boy named Cy. Vera was told that he was to be her brother, no questions asked. Now grown, Cy (Daryl McCormack) is a failed politician with right-wing sensibilities.

Dr. Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner) had a loving family but his wife took the kids and moved to Tucson. Since then, Nat has become a habitué of a local bar.

The science-fiction writer Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) has been successfully published. But lately he has been writing a book based on the Msgr. Wicks’ theological beliefs.

The last member of the group is Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), an acclaimed cellist. She became disabled and now supports the Msgr. financially in hopes of being healed.

Each week at Mass, Msgr. Wicks preaches a near-apocalyptic sermon in which the parishioners are summoned to be warriors in Christ’s battle against the forces of evil in the world. More notably, he singles out newcomers in his sermons to the point where they flee the church.

One day at confession Jud, fed up with Wicks, asks him to be his confessor. Jud declares that he has found out that Wicks had a prostatectomy and cannot masturbate. Jud calls the Msgr. out on his belligerent ways. In return, Wicks punches Jud in the stomach. Jud states that he will do whatever it takes to get Wicks removed. Then the Msgr. dies off-pulpit at a Mass. Who did it?

The plotting of this movie is well-done. The problem comes in too many digressions from the story and too many red herrings. It is not until the end of the picture that everything gets wrapped up neatly in a bow.

One could argue that this is the case in multiple print mysteries. While I cannot deny the truth of this claim, the delay in the ultimate revelation led to a feeling of wheels spinning pointlessly as we awaited the climax.

There also is a too-convenient connection between the Msgr.’s death being a locked-door mystery and the fact that the church book club was reading locked-door mysteries. This leads nowhere as it turns out.

The film has ties to a cozy mystery, which I liked. There are at least two gatherings where all of the characters/suspects are in the same room. The murders are not too brutal, although we see dead bodies with the murder implement intact and at a morgue. The gothic elements include the church itself, the storms, and the treks through the nearby woods which may as well have been heaths. A certain incident at the mausoleum with the Lazarus door invokes the supernatural.

I used to admire the character of Benoit Blanc. But now, whether it is due to Craig’s tedium with playing the character or the writing, he seems tired and worn out. He is quite indecisive at times and lacks the cutting edge in both wit and deduction that characterized the first film.

Josh O’Connor as Jud is perfect. I have admired him ever since his stand-out performance in “God’s Own Country.” He has the vulnerability of someone with a troubled past and the compassion of a true healer. He is able to display a range of emotions with subtlety. Jud’s combination of street savvy and true commitment to his faith make him a likeable character.

That is more than I can say for the rest of the cast. Brolin as Wicks is truly repulsive. I give the actor bonus points for taking on such a role. Brolin balances the aspect which attracts certain people to his unique sermons versus his sliminess and disregard for most people.

Glenn Close seems to be truly a caricature here. I think of her role as Jenny Fields, another very distinct portrayal in “The World According to Garp,” and I do not see the naturalness in Martha Delacroix that I felt with Fields.

This brings up another point. Were these characters deliberately written to be over-the-top in their affectations or not? I noticed what I considered to be wooden acting several times in the supporting cast. Was this the direction, an actor’s choice, or simply poor skills? In any case, I think that it is time to retire this series for the greater good.

This film is worth seeing for Josh O’Connor’s performance and the hardly-used Jeffrey Wright who adds a nice wry touch as a bishop. The details of the murders and how they were planned are nicely done. But be prepared for dead ends and an overlong film at two hours plus. The other acting performances also are lacking. I was engaged in solving the mystery, though, despite these flaws.

Three out of five stars

Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus. When young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, Esq. (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), best-selling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny). After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.

Cast: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Written by: Rian Johnson