[Rating: Swiss Fist]
In 2017, director Kenneth Branagh brought the famed Murder on the Orient Express back to the big screen. With that film being a commercial success, and the entire plethora of Agatha Christie’s canon at his disposal, naturally he would make the next story in the Hercule Poirot series.
Death on the Nile is another whodunit in a genre that has been getting a bit of traction over the last five years. While delays upon delays probably won’t help audiences come out in drove to help solve the mysterious, the film is a moderate stroll down the river
With a cast of characters, I’ll stick to the main bulk of this story. Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer – yikes) has just married Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot). They honeymoon in Egypt with close family and friends including: godmother Marie Van Schuyler (Jennifer Saunders), former fiance Linus Windlesham (Russell Brand), close friend Rosalie Otterbourne (Letitia Wright) and her mother Salome (Sophie Okonedo), cousin and lawyer Andrew (Ali Fazal) and more, including Branagh’s Hercule Poirot. Also on this river cruise is Simon’s former fiance and jilted lover, Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey). When a murder occurs on the boat, all passengers are suspects as Poirot must solve the case before the ship gets back to port. He enlists friend Bouc (Tom Bateman) as partner as they must interview every suspect from nurse Mrs. Brown (Dawn French) to Bouc’s own mother Euphemia (Annette Bening).
Obviously, this story has been out for over 85 years and people have had plenty of chances to read the book or watch the 1978 film adaptation of this story. I will not personally spoil any of the plot because it’s a fun one with as many twists and turns to fill the Nile.
What I will say is this: it’s kind of an ugly movie to look at. Branagh uses a blend of sets that are very minimalist and then heavy on the CGI to create the famed river. I appreciate that this movie goes back and shows us what happened when the murder is revealed because it can get confusing as to what is going on inside the detective’s head, but shots where the camera wants to act so dramatic just baffled me.
And another thing: Branagh bookends this film with a story about how he got his famous mustache and then when he returns to England to possibly ask a character out on a date. It serves no need, puts too much filler into a story that is already pretty long, and takes away from the fun of the actual detective work. I as a moviegoer do not feel the need to know about how he got his mustache or give us a backstory to his life that somehow relates to this murder investigation.
Being the sucker I am for detective stories that really have me guessing and shocked at the outcomes, I would see this again. If anything the feel of the movie is all there, it’s the execution of how it looks that comes through in a very messy way.
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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