Wake Up Dead Man | Star Wars: Rebels, Season Four

A whole lot of 'good, not great' this week...

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This is what I've been watching and playing over the last seven days...

MOVIES

Wake Up Dead Man

Movie summary: Detective Benoit Blanc teams up with an earnest young priest to investigate a perfectly impossible crime at a small-town church with a dark history. (IMDb)

I love the first Knives Out movie and count it as one of my favourite films of recent years; I really like Glass Onion too, knowing that it's a little more divisive than the first film; and I also like Wake Up Dead Man.

The thing is, I like each new Knives Out movie a little less than the one before it and am a little worried what that might mean for the fourth film, if it gets made.

I also have to note that whoever at Netflix wanted this series of movies to fall under the grouping of 'Knives Out' rather than something based around Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc was 100% right to do so.

The reason I say that is because this barely feels like a Benoit Blanc movie, and I don't mean because of the more serious tone and a relative lack of humour compared to the first two.

It's that Benoit Blanc feels very much like a supporting character this time out, not even actively becoming involved in the movie's story until the 40-minute mark.

This isn't a knock on Josh O'Connor's performance as Father Jud Duplenticy, as he's great in the role, but Blanc is the reason I liked the first two movies so much and less Blanc simply means less enjoyment for me.

That last bit is the most important though, as Wake Up Dead Man is still a lot of fun, it just pales somewhat in comparison to its predecessors.

The cast is, as usual for these movies, stacked from top to bottom and they're all great as expected, although Jeffrey Wright - awesome as he is - steals the few scenes he has in the film.

The plot is probably the most convoluted of the three films so far, which may put some off, not helped that the 'major' death being investigated is that of a complete arsehole, so there's not really much in the way of sympathy to be wrung out of the investigation either.

I don't think anyone will regret taking the time to watch Wake Up Dead Man, as I certainly don't - but I really do hope this downward trend reverses for the next movie.

Wake Up Dead Man is my least favourite of the three Knives Out films so far, thanks to how little of an impact it felt like Benoit Blanc had this time around, although it's still enjoyable in its own right. [7/10]

GAMES

Guardians of the Galaxy

Finished again, this time on PC, with much improved visuals for what was already a gorgeous game and confirmed that everything I wrote about it before still holds true.

A phenomenal story and brilliant performances abound, but seriously, it should be considered a development 'sin' to have enemies only attack the player character when they're being killed by a NPC ally - so fucking annoying.

Also currently playing: Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020)

TV

Star Wars: Rebels, Season Four

Season summary: When a new Imperial threat arises on Lothal, Ezra leads the crew back to his home world to defeat the oppressive forces of the Empire, under the command of the cunning Grand Admiral Thrawn. (Star Wars Rebels Wiki)

Episodes 1 + 2, “Heroes of Mandalore”

Again, I’m not a fan of Mandalorians and this two-parter felt more like setting up stuff for the future rather than telling a story in its own right, which is a little odd for a show’s final season.

Episodes 3 + 4, “In the Name of the Rebellion”

A nice tie-in/build-up to the events of Rogue One, with another appearance from Saw Guerrera who is little more than another villain at this point – definitely more a terrorist than a freedom fighter.

Episode 5, “The Occupation”

A return to Lothal and the wasteland it has become under Imperial control – it’s somewhat shocking at first, but then veers into feeling more like a stupid overreaction on the part of the Empire and is yet another indicator of why it fell so quickly.

Episode 6, “Flight of the Defender”

A strange episode that mostly focuses on stealing a new version of a TIE Defender, but the brings up a new fantastical creature to add another layer to things – bit of an uneven tone really.

Episode 7, “Kindred”

Rukh! From the old Zahn Thrawn books! And the first hint at the World Between Worlds thanks to the loth-wolves – quite a lot packed into this one!

Episode 8, "Crawler Commandeers”

A pretty basic one-off adventure – strange to use up time with an episode like this in a show’s final season.

Episode 9, “Rebel Assault”

A nice big opening action set-piece (man, X-Wings really are the best-designed sci-fi ships ever, aren’t they?), followed by a chase through the streets – good stuff.

Episode 10, “Jedi Night”

Wow, what a way for a Jedi to go out – saving those he loved.

That ending really hit hard, especially the black-on-white Rebels logo with the ash falling…

Episode 11, “DUME”

An epilogue to ‘Jedi Night’ showing how the team deal with Kanan’s loss, including a defeat for Rukh and Ezra receiving a stone with a pattern on it that may be familiar to those who watched Clone Wars…

Episode 12, “Wolves and a Door”

Palpatine and the Mortis gods? Nice rewards for Clone Wars fans who continued to watch Rebels (and a similar stone shows up in Luthen’s shop in Andor too!)

Episode 13, “A World Between Worlds”

This episode really embraces the fantasy side of Star Wars and shows just how powerful the Mortis gods were, while acting as a sad final farewell to Kanan.

Episode 14, “A Fool’s Hope”

An extended battle sequence with a believable betrayal setting it all up – although the deus ex machina of the loth-wolves saving the day was one step too far for me.

Episodes 15 + 16, “Family Reunion – and Farewell”

An appropriate finale that matches the series as a whole: the best moments are seeing how it ties in to the rest of the franchise rather than being anything truly special itself.

And that really does describe this fourth, final season and the show as a whole - the core group just didn't really click for me, leaving the series feeling relatively inessential as a result.

I do think being target even more at kids than usual for Star Wars didn't help either, as the lack of any genuine threat or cost to the team beyond what happens to Kanan makes it difficult to take anything too seriously.

Star Wars: Rebels' final season isn't a let-down by any measure, but neither does it close out the series with a bang, acting as something to help flesh out the world George Lucas created rather than being an important piece of it. [7/10]

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