Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

The trailer opens with a spin on the original series theme by Nathan Johnson, this time with tubular bells carving out that signature rising minor motif, suggesting the sacred context and accompanied by pizzicato strings for intrigue. At 0:21 the strings almost rise out of control, only to be grounded by blaring synth at 0:23 alongside a ticking sound. Carrying on the sacred context a wordless choir punctuates the monologue of the series star, detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig); the ticking doubles up at 0:38 as our intrigue deepens over the story of a monsignor (a kind of priest) who appears to be murdered just out of plain sight—a “classic impossible crime”, in Blanc’s words.

At 0:50 we get our first glimpse of the offscreen narrator—Craig is pretty well the same, just perhaps with a bit more hair—bringing the first pause in music. This only gives the music the opportunity to return in fuller force, now with full phrases in the wordless epic choir and racing minor arpeggios in the strings alongside the titles for a triple-A cast (Glenn Close and Josh Brolin, anyone?). Close’s character deems it “unsolvable”, leading us to our second pause in the “Daggers”-influenced music—the person she’s speaking to, presumably, Blanc’s assistant, almost serves as an avatar for the audience, as he mutters “holy shit” in response to Closer’s assertion. At 1:03 the trailer resumes the music and casting cards, now ramping up the arrangement even further for a brief moment, only to die down again at 1:08 with a moment of comedic repose from Jeremy Renner’s character (“What exists? Does any of this exist?”).

Next, we receive a full montage sequence with multiple intriguing snippets—a close up of a jewel; a cellist in concert; a dagger in the woods. There are a couple of synch points between the action and music, but nothing gratuitous. As is often the case, the arrangement culminates with the epic percussion pummelling the audioviewer with rapid-fire sixteenth notes.

In an editing move that’s a bit on the nose but in character for a series that never takes itself entirely seriously, Blanc’s assistant shouts “stop” right in synch with the music’s climax, as we return to bells and gentle strings, again offering a comedic reprieve (“and then… that’s it!”).

The insistence on bells as a central piece of the arrangement speaks to this instalment’s gothic church theme; otherwise, the arrangement uses a pretty standard set of ideas to continuously ramp up tension and energy. Blanc’s new associate, meanwhile, offers a pretty clear comedic foil to Blanc’s ethos, also serving to contrast the overall aesthetic direction this instalment in the series is taking—quite a difference from the sunny beach aesthetic of Glass Onion.

Wake Up Dead Man arrives in select theatres November 26th and on Netflix December 12th.

— Curtis Perry