Which Knives Out Movie Sticks the Landing? All Three Third Acts, Ranked

Rian Johnson has now made three Benoit Blanc mysteries, and they all live or die by the final stretch. That last 20-30 minutes is where the gears click, the masks drop, and Daniel Craig leans into that soothing Southern drawl while slicing through the mess. Each film goes for something a little different at the end — sometimes the clean puzzle-box twist, sometimes a bigger theme. The series stays proudly episodic, too: new setting, fresh cast, and a classy vibe that nods to Christie and Conan Doyle without feeling dusty.

So, here’s where I land on the third acts — ranked from still-great to untouchable. I’m judging strictly on the payoff: the reveal, the momentum, and whether it leaves you grinning when the credits hit.

1. 3) Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)

   Release: 2025 | IMDb: 7.4/10 (so far) | Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (so far) | Runtime: 2h 20m

   Calling this last feels wrong because it’s still one of the series’ strongest. It’s also a tonal swing: restrained, heavy, and content to keep you stewing before Benoit Blanc even shows up. He doesn’t stroll in until around the 30-minute mark, and when he does, the room finally exhales — he brings just enough levity to break the tension without deflating it.

   The case centers on Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor), a troubled priest newly assigned to a parish run by the frosty, domineering Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). After a brief dust-up between the two, Wicks turns up dead and suspicion lands squarely on Jud. As Blanc digs in, the parish’s inner circle starts looking less holy and more human: Wicks’s past is murky, and basically everyone has something they’d rather keep buried.

   The mastermind? Wicks’s longtime assistant, Martha Delacroix. Here’s how the dominoes fall: Jud pushes Martha to finally tell Wicks about a jewel called Eve’s Apple and where it’s hidden. That confession lights a fire in Wicks. He plans to shutter the church and claim the treasure for himself. Terrified he’ll destroy everything, Martha fabricates a legend about a resurrected saint, kills Wicks, and hides Eve’s Apple to 'save' the parish — with an assist from Dr. Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner).

   The controversial bit: for the first time in the series, Blanc doesn’t unmask the scheme — the culprits confess. It’s a conscious break from the franchise’s usual victory-lap reveal, and yeah, some of the magic fades when the detective isn’t the one turning the key. What it does give you is a thornier finale. The movie aims its microscope at power structures — this time, religion — and Martha’s choice to kill in the name of the church adds real emotional heft. It’s the trilogy’s most complex ending, even if it’s also the quietest and least immediately punchy.

2. 2) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

   Release: 2022 | IMDb: 7.1/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 91% | Runtime: 2h 19m

   Weirdly the least loved entry, but the third act cooks. Johnson flips the franchise playbook halfway through with a big structural trick that rewires what you think you’re watching. We’re on a billionaire’s private island this time: tech mogul Miles Bron (Edward Norton) has gathered his coddled, shamelessly self-absorbed crew for a weekend of nonsense. Also present: a former friend turned enemy played by Janelle Monae, and she’s not just there for the cocktails.

   When things blow up in the third act, Monae’s character — Helen/Andi — gets shot at the party. A journal tucked into her jacket saves her life. Blanc seizes the moment, helps her fake her death, and then pulls everyone together for the truth bomb: Miles killed Andi to bury the fact his Alpha empire was built on her idea, which she’d documented on a napkin. And when Dave Bautista’s Duke gets a Google alert about Andi’s death, Miles eliminates him, too, to keep the secret sealed.

   Why it lands: Monae’s dual-role gambit plus Blanc’s step-by-step breakdown is crowd-pleaser stuff, and the internet-age skewering feels very now. The trade-off is that most suspects are already pretty awful, so the tension skews cerebral instead of emotional — it’s easy to watch Blanc line up the pins without getting too attached to who gets knocked down.

3. 1) Knives Out (2019)

   Release: 2019 | IMDb: 7.9/10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 97% | Runtime: 2h 10m

   The original still owns the podium. It’s tight, funny, gorgeous to look at, and the ending never stops working, even when you know every beat.

   Blanc is called to the scene of famed author Harlan Thrombey’s apparent suicide (Christopher Plummer). The film’s heart, though, is Harlan’s nurse Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), who thinks she mixed up his meds and spends the movie trying to survive a minefield while Blanc quietly clocks every odd angle.

   The reveal is the good kind of inevitable: every Thrombey is hiding something, but the architect is grandson Ransom. After he’s cut out of the will, he switches medications, tugs a few threads, and tries to make Marta the fall guy.

   That finale sings because the reversals feel fair and the logic is airtight. It also laid down the franchise template: a modern spin on the classic whodunit with a stacked ensemble, and a shift away from 'just find the killer' toward watching an innocent person navigate danger once the audience has been tipped off to key facts. It’s the gold standard the sequels chase.

However you stack them, these movies are built for that final sprint, and Johnson keeps finding new ways to twist the knife without getting repetitive.

All three are on Netflix. Which ending hits the hardest for you?