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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"Murder on the Orient Express" is one of Agatha Christie's most celebrated Poirot stories and was first published in 1934. The Lindbergh baby case is also infamous, and its reach can be illustrated, for example, by the fact that in its time it also caused fear in Marlene Dietrich, who hired two bodyguards for her daughter. The trauma caused by the scandal was almost palpable throughout the 1930s... There have been a number of adaptations, whether in film, television, radio, theater, comics, or video games. So is it a good choice to start a new series? Isn't it a shame to start telling new Poirot cases in this notorious way? So far, Kenneth Branagh seems to have been lucky. Soon he will be back again and will surely solve another famous case - Death on the Nile. So what was the recipe used? Branagh was not afraid to make a classic all-star film for today's audience, where it is important that even the smallest roles are played by respected actors. It is all sufficiently idealized, deliberately playing with reverence and yet suspenseful and, where desired, funny. It is therefore an endeavor that can be enjoyed without hesitation. As an added bonus, we get a new song sung by Michelle Pfeiffer - "Never Forget."
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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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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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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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“The murderer is taunting me. Ok. His first mistake!" How I would like to not know how it is going to turn out, I thought from start to finish, because if Murder on the Orient Express offered me that detective mystery, it would be even better. But of course, this is not the fault of the film, which is perfect in almost every aspect. Understandably, Poirot (in Branagh's superbly moderate and sensitive performance, with a mustache like from Hogwarts) is the focal point of the plot, but the other characters are certainly not forgotten, the design is digital, but beautiful, and when emotions are supposed to happen, they happen, and it doesn't matter if you know the book or not. Perhaps only Poirot's recollection of Katherine (from The Mystery of the Blue Train) seemed excessive to me and I didn't like the final stumbling block too much, which suggests that the sequel will take place “on the damn Nile".
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