y previous life, yes, I was a boxer.” New York priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) punches a deacon who was getting lippy, resulting in a harsh reassignment – to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a small parish in Chimney Rock, under the watchful eye of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) and his shockingly nimble assistant Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close). It’s a shaky start, especially when Wicks exhibits an uncomfortable control over his new subordinate, prodding him with too many details about his personal life (in the form of ecclesiastical rites) and scrutinizing his potential for taking over the chapel. The only other full-time employee is groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), who works to avoid going back to the bottle, while also being too fond of Martha.

This setup, including backstories for the clergymen, comes to visual life as a letter is written for the famed private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), who will soon begin an investigation into what is dubbed the Good Friday murder. As with the previous “Knives Out” mysteries, this one boasts a sizable ensemble cast, established steadily through Jud’s narration of his missive; the various parishioners of the holy facility are the prime suspects. Local attorney Vera Draven (Kerry Washington); wannabe conservative politician and influencer Cy (Daryl McCormack); doctor Dr. Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner) and his wife Darla (Nicola Hughes); moderately famous sci-fi writer Lee Ross (Andrew Scott); and former world-class cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny) all might have a motive to off the alternately offensive and charismatic Wicks, who never seems as if he’s interested in using religion to help the residents, but rather in keeping his flock angry and afraid.

Lots of humor permeates the longwinded introductions, but they’re exactly that: overflowing with details and dreadfully unhurried. This means that it takes a considerable amount of time before a crime occurs, a victim is determined, and a mystery is set – with Duplenticy becoming a person of interest, perhaps wrongly. At least the setup crafts a seemingly impossible situation for anyone to have committed the assault, which makes it a striking conundrum; an enigma that resembles a miraculous occurrence (the orchestration of a locked-door riddle). But Blanc doesn’t show up until nearly 40 minutes in. And there are even more characters, including minor witnesses to be interrogated and police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis), who heads an official inquiry as Benoit begins his unofficial one.

Despite the intermittent chuckles, it doesn’t help that no one is terribly sympathetic or likable; even Father Jud is weak-minded, naive, and feckless. And though Blanc’s collection of clues keeps up interest, it remains slow, with plenty of elements that don’t line up easily, and numerous flashbacks and surprise additives that convolute the timeline and the perceived simplicity. The brunt of the plot is actually characters talking, mulling over truth, faith, betrayal, cultish personalities, and unfaltering fealty. “There must be a piece missing.”

Amusingly, all of writer/director Rian Johnson’s Benoit tales are set in isolated locales, generating strangely timeless scenarios that are segregated from obvious modernity and cutting-edge sleuthing (as if adapting a Christie or Holmes whodunit, products inextricably linked to specific periods). They’re notably removed from the hustle and bustle of large police forces digging into every triviality, allowing Blanc to work unencumbered and mostly uninterrupted by politics and jurisdiction and more legitimate authorities. And they’re full of misdirections and twists and confessions, though many of these are of such an unguessable, unknowable, unpredictable variety that audiences are robbed of the pleasure of following along. It’s mostly a series of lengthy, labyrinthine, outlandish revelations, followed by winding, rambling explanations, theatrically informing viewers of items they couldn’t possibly have foreseen – including tidbits that are a touch too easy (such as characters being in the right places at the right times, others losing consciousness or being out of view exactly when needed, or bodies getting moved with inexplicable effortlessness). It may eventually tie up all the loose ends, but it’s not satisfying during the convoluted, verbose process. “Can’t you just give us the answers?”

– Mike Massie