Surprisingly, writer-director Rian Johnson’s detective character, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), isn’t even the lead character—it’s Father Jud, a priest sent to assist at a small upstate New York Catholic church. Immediately at odds with the parish priest—an intolerant brim-and-firestone preacher, Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin) whose ironclad control of his parish has shrunk the parish to a core group of regulars under his thrall—Father Jud is soon the prime suspect of the murder of Wicks and several other people at the church.
It’s a fun romp with an all-star cast, including Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, and Thomas Hayden Church.
But it’s O’Connor who shines as Jud, partly because below the surface is some real depth to the story and character. While Blanc is firmly not a believer and very much seems to reflect Johnson’s point of view, the movie nevertheless examines the power and grace of religious faith. Indeed, faith, belief and the mystery of the church are integral to the story, not just set dressing for the film. Indeed, it is the belief in the sacraments of the church that allows the film’s locked room mystery to be solved, helping to restore Father Jud’s commitment to his mission of serving the ministry, making for a profound and satisfying conclusion.
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