The Knives Out trilogy is something pretty special. In a climate so heavily inundated with profit-driven cinema, writer-director Rian Johnson has fought to keep his creative world as intact as possible—and it seems this pursuit is paying off better than ever with his latest offering, Wake Up Dead Man.

Each of the three Knives Out films can be described as elevated whodunnits. Johnson’s murder flicks feature classic narratives laced with contemporary socio-political theming that elevate them beyond just trope-filled genre films. The first film featured commentary on racism and immigration in the United States. The second was an indictment of disillusioned capitalists. Wake Up Dead Man proves to be  Johnson’s most complex act of political storytelling yet. Much of the film grapples with the interplay between the rationalism of murder mystery stories and the Christian spiritualism of the settings and characters in the film itself. This provides Johnson a breadth of opportunities to examine not only the role of religion in society, but also the dangers of blind faith and the rise of right-wing figures that weaponize spirituality as a tool to justify their agendas.

Josh O’Connor leads the film as Jud Deplenticy, a young priest reassigned to a small town church after attacking another member of his parish. Deplenticy is a fascinatingly complex character, who grapples with violent impulses and character flaws alongside his devoutness and passion for helping those around him through prayer. He feels like Johnson’s model of a positive version of devoutness, played against an ensemble of characters that pursue religion for all the wrong reasons. O’Connor has a number of truly moving scenes where his character is fulfilling his ambition to make the world around him a better place. The optimism of this character arc plays an integral role in the narrative, ensuring it does not stray too far into the realm of cynicism.

Knives Out films are perhaps best known for their star-studded ensemble casts, but it seems that Wake Up Dead Man’s emphasis on O’Connor’s character as a driving thematic force relegated supporting players to less substantial roles in the plot when compared to previous films. The film’s cast is filled with regular attendants of O’Connor’s church, who have all been led astray to various extents by its head pastor, Josh Brolin’s Jefferson Wicks. Most of the cast feels somewhat underutilized. There’s an interesting subplot involving Cailee Spaeny’s character that for the most part flies under the radar, and Andrew Scott feels woefully underutilized in the film. Kerry Washington and Glenn Close’s characters do get quite a bit of time to shine, however, the latter especially enjoying a number of effective monologues and scene-stealing moments.

Daniel Craig also takes a backseat in this outing. Benoit Blanc returns in a capacity more similar to his role in the original Knives Out than his definitively leading turn in Glass Onion. Craig isn’t necessarily more impressive in this instalment than he is in previous iterations, but he certainly has a post-Johnathan-Anderson-swagger this time around that further adds to the detective’s whimsical characterisation.. Craig and O’Connor have excellent chemistry with one another. Together, they epitomize Johnson’s thesis with this film, often butting heads regarding the influence of religion over logical detective proceedings, which resolves in a satisfying way that compliments the nature of both characters.

While Wake Up Dead Man is less ensemble-focused than its peers, it appears that Johnson siphoned this energy into the film’s crafts, which are an undeniable improvement on Glass Onion’s. The film is shot beautifully, the cinematography is so excellent in some sequences that one can’t help but wonder if such degrees of quality are even warranted in a murder mystery film. There are also flashback sequences that cinematographer Steve Yedlin distinguishes from present-day scenes with stunning neon-heavy lighting choices. Both interior and exterior locations are also regarded with precise care from the film’s production design team, as all the environments in Wake Up Dead Man interact with its cast incredibly cohesively.

While Wake Up Dead Man is an excellent new entry in the Knives Out trilogy, perhaps the strongest one yet, it appears that Johnson may be beginning to separate his sequels from their original. Having proved the series’ capacity to exist independently of Benoit Blanc’s influence with the first act of Wake Up Dead Man, it wouldn’t be surprising if future entries in this quasi-franchise didn’t reference previous installments whatsoever. With the release of this film, the rights to Knives Out are no longer held by Netflix. This will presumably allow Johnson to make future entries less commercial and even more wholeheartedly committed to his creative ambitions. Where the filmmaker might take future Knives Out endeavors is anyone’s guess, but Wake Up Dead Man definitively proves that the tank is still far from empty.