Rian Johnson has crafted some incredibly memorable and entertaining whodunnits through the Knives Out franchise, and with Wake Up Dead Man now out, which movie is the best that the Daniel Craig-led murder mystery series has to offer?
After the massive success of the first film ($312 million at the box office), Johnson struck a deal with Netflix to make two sequels: 2022's Glass Onion and 2025's Wake Up Dead Man. While Knives Out 4 could happen, the current trilogy is now complete, allowing us to rank the Knives Out movies from worst to best.
3 Wake Up Dead Man
The third Knives Out film, titled Wake Up Dead Man, is another intricately designed installment in the franchise, one that delivers plenty of twists and turns as Benoit Blanc tries to uncover who killed Msgr. Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). But as the third such entry, there is more of a sense for how these movies unfold, making aspects of the ultimate mystery a bit less surprising.
O'Connor and Craig have an excellent on-screen dynamic, with Benoit sticking his neck out for the young priest repeatedly, believing his innocence. Among the rest of the ensemble, Brolin sinks his teeth into a loud, hateful performance, while Glenn Close is quite excellent as the church's longest attendee, Martha.
This is also the least comedic of the Knives Out movies, due to how Johnson leans into the religious themes and broken people at the center of Wicks' church. While there is still a good amount of entertainment to be found as the mystery unfolds, I will admit that I missed some of the more traditional humor that's included in the other installments.
2 Glass Onion
Craig sinks back into the detective role with ease. Janelle Monáe delivers a tremendous performance that's even more impressive once the true nature of her character is revealed. Meanwhile, the starry ensemble with Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, and more all get memorable moments through the outlandish characters they portray.
The Knives Out movies have excellent set design across the board, but the detail put into Myles Bron's luxurious mansion is maybe the best that the franchise has to offer. It makes for a visually striking film throughout, with the explosive finale a very different conclusion than expected.
Ultimately, there is just a lot of entertainment value with Glass Onion. It's bigger, brighter, more colorful, and features characters more ridiculously composed than before. Everyone in the cast, as well as Johnson, delivers and is having a blast, which makes it easy to enjoy.
1 Knives Out
In addition to being the first movie in the franchise, Knives Out is certainly the best. After cutting his teeth with smaller murder mysteries earlier in his career, this feels like the movie Johnson has waited his whole life to make.
Subverting expectations of the genre at almost any turn, the movie makes it clear early on that this won't be a traditional whodunnit. For as pivotal a role as Blanc plays, it's framing the movie through Marta Cabrera's experience that really sets this apart. We're shown early on what happened to Harlan Thrombey, and the "accident" behind his death makes you actively root for Marta to be innocent, somehow.
Craig's southern drawl accent is laid on thick, and his unusual metaphors (like the donut hole within a donut hole) are hilarious. Ana de Armas brings an essence of goodness to the role that really makes Marta work. Chris Evans is perfectly cast as a jerk, as he actively rejects the stereotype associated with him for years of playing Captain America.
The rest of Knives Out's cast is just as spectacular. Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield, and Don Johnson make the most of their scenes, with Collette the real scene-stealer among the bunch. They all help give the film a level of prestige and credibility, all while delivering hilarious lines with their larger-than-life characters.
It'll be tough for any entry in this whodunnit franchise to top Knives Out, but I'll happily keep watching as Johnson tries.
