Directed by:
Kenneth BranaghScreenplay:
Michael GreenCinematography:
Haris ZambarloukosComposer:
Patrick DoyleCast:
Kenneth Branagh, Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Lucy Boynton, Leslie Odom Jr., Derek Jacobi (more)VOD (3)
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When notorious gangster Ratchett (Johnny Depp) is murdered on a luxurious train ride through Europe, Detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) must solve the case before another victim is claimed by one of the 13 mysterious passengers on board. Among the suspects are Princess Dragomiroff (Judi Dench), Pilar Estravados (Penelope Cruz), a devout missionary, and Mrs Hubbard (Michelle Pfeiffer), an American widow. Can Poirot identify the killer before another life is taken? (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (13)
Branagh, after failed experiments with big-budget filmmaking (Jack Ryan, Thor), has managed to find the right chessboard in which he can dabble as a filmmaker, even with his theatrical sensibilities. The stage of four train cars is an ideal setting for him, he can play around with popular formal elements of the theater and still use all the possibilities of cinematic language. You can see his joy in this, the reveling in the various minute details, the blocking, and above all the movement through the scene, where we can either be fooled or collect clues just by working within the film frame. It's true that the film can never match the wildly overpopulated opening in Istanbul, in which one character after another arrives in the crowded streets of a wonderfully hectic big city, but then again there is a place for quiet admiration of the ingenious work with space, in which long, refined shots do their best not to repeat any previous steps. It's a reminiscence of the most classic filmmaking with the most contemporary of means, it's a beauty, and again after a long time a film where there was a storm raging outside, the cinema was leaking, the projection was a little askew, but I sat back, untroubled, waiting to see how the whodunit gets revealed, and wanted for nothing.
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I haven’t seen the original Murder on the Orient Express, whether with Finney or the television version with Suchet, so comparisons aren’t relevant here. But I can say this: I love classic detective stories, and when paired with flawless performances that have no noticeable flaws, we’re looking at one of the best crime films in recent times. Branagh is truly a skilled director, and this time he managed not only his directing role but also took on the role of Poirot himself. While many people struggle with his Poirot due to comparisons, I found his performance to be of a high standard (perhaps influenced by my unfamiliarity with his predecessors and their style). He acted as one of the most brilliant detectives and occasionally threw in a joke. The film is visually captivating, with a successful play of colors, and this aspect is faultless. Returning to the performances, I must praise the casting of the supporting characters. Each role was wonderfully played, and the dialogues written for them made sense. Ironically, Depp shone in his role, but unfortunately, not for long. The gradual build-up wasn’t contrived but rather flawless in its script, and the direction towards such a surprising ending caught me off guard. The final resolution almost took my breath away. I’m looking forward to the shift to Egypt, specifically to the Nile. If it maintains this high standard, we have much to look forward to. I give it 85%.
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The attempt to combine the most classical of classic detective stories with modern filmmaking techniques is commendable, but not quite effective. I appreciate Branagh's clear vision, his courage to come up with his own ideas, and his absolute commitment to the story and the main character, but the result lacks a single memorable passage, and, especially in the second half, it hits a monotonous, old-fashioned note that doesn't fit well with his intentions to make an energetic version of the case of the level-headed intellectual. It's very pretty to look at and the stellar cast is a delight, but it's still more predictable and less cool than would be ideal.
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Although the original by Agatha Christie is a perfect detective story that will be relevant even in a hundred years, giving this movie a five-star load is unfortunately almost impossible. The story is amazing, the adaptation and the camera work are very imaginative, CGI is surprisingly okay, but Kenneth Branagh decided to approach the movie on such a massive scale that not only did he drag a bunch of fantastic actors on board, but he also turned the Balkans into the Italian Dolomites. On top of that, the resolution didn’t sit well with me. Even though I knew what would happen. The Last Supper style also culminated acting-wise and some characters turned into caricatures of themselves thanks to their theatrically expressive performance and I was a little sorry about that. Overall a good movie but it can thank the source material for that.
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That didn't sit right with me at all. I went into the film without any knowledge of the source material, but even the decent acting and fabulous visuals didn't pull me out of the ultimate boredom, where I fell asleep for twenty minutes for perhaps the first time ever in the cinema. I found Hercule Poirot to be a very uninteresting detective and Kenneth Branagh with his horrible accent didn't add much to it. I didn't find his detective work interesting at all, so the only good thing is the final reveal, which I didn't expect and certainly surprised me. The film is neither suspenseful nor dark at all, the dialogues are not very interesting and there is only one murder, this is simply not a film for me. 45%
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Gallery (86)
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