Benoit Blanc returns for his most dangerous case yet.

The third installment of writer-director Rian Johnson’s murder mystery series featuring modern-day Poirot, the drawl-dripping detective played by Daniel Craig, is the longest, most intricate and serious in the group. This time the action is set in a small parish in upstate New York, but the typical labyrinthian plot, Blanc bon mots and cast overstuffed with talented actors is left intact.

With a movie like this, almost every detail can be considered a spoiler, so I’ll be as brief as possible. Blanc comes to the aid of a young priest (Josh O’Connor) who has recently joined the parish led by the gruff Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin). The additional cast of possible suspects and victims includes Glenn Close as the devout Martha, Wicks’ right hand at the church and lifelong member, her partner handyman Samson (Thomas Hayden Church), Jeremy Renner as the town doctor, Andrew Scott as a best-selling author, Kerry Washington as lawyer, Vera, daughter of a lifelong parishioner, Daryl McCormack as Cy, Vera’s ward and an aspiring politician and influencer, Cailee Spaeny as Simone, a disabled cellist and Mila Kunis as Geraldine, the local police chief.

With the wrapper of religion, faith and belief playing throughout, there’s a heavier tone to this than in previous installments. I would say this is the first Benoit Blanc mystery that couldn’t be considered an outright comedy, thought it does have its funny moments. The performances are uniformly great with O’Connor being the anchor for the entire movie (and probably the only true lead). He gets such a deeply drawn and felt character and wrings every ounce of emotion out of him (this is a compliment). Close is also a standout (when is she not) and does so much with the too brief moments she gets the focus but doesn’t overplay. Most of the other characters deserved a little more meat on the bone.

The first 45 minutes is essentially a montage of character and plot intros which might play better at home but felt like a tedious start, but once the murder happens and the story kicks in it does flow better. The plot may be needlessly intricate but isn’t that to be expected with these movies? And the religious backdrop helps give it a strong theme.

Jonathan’s grade – B+