Directed by:
Kenneth BranaghScreenplay:
Michael GreenCinematography:
Haris ZambarloukosComposer:
Patrick DoyleCast:
Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Tom Bateman, Letitia Wright, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Russell Brand, Annette Bening, Ali Fazal, Rose Leslie (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this tale of unbridled passion and incapacitating jealousy features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers, and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement. (Walt Disney Nordic Fin.)
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Reviews (12)
I really like the detective genre and just like I was looking forward to Death on the Nile from the moment I knew Kenneth Branagh was preparing for it. His portrayal of Hercule Poirot is great, as well as the film adaptation which is properly opulent and grandiose. But that is probably also a stumbling block. Although Agatha Christie's stories are detective at the highest level, they are still rather chamber matters. This is not entirely applicable here. You cannot take your eyes off the beautiful camera that realistically advertises Egypt in the 1930s. Similarly, the atmosphere of that time is great, although Kenneth Branagh could have toned down the amount of sexual tension a bit. The actors are a bit more complicated, mainly because you can see how theatrically they all overplay, in order to really irritate you (of course, except for Hercule Poirot, whose theatricality you will gladly forgive, as it somewhat belongs to him). Their roles, they were a plethora of unnecessary people. If the steamboat sank and everyone drowned together, nobody would actually care and the movie would end before anything even happened. The biggest surprise for me, however, was definitely Russell Brand, whom I didn't recognize until he spoke, and Emma Mackey, who reminded me a lot of Emma Stone. The film is definitely an interesting experience, but the older adaptations remain unmatched for me.
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I'm giving it one more star than Murder on the Orient Express, mainly because Death on the Nile is not just "another Hercule Poirot mystery", but it's a Hercule Poirot mystery that is about Hercule Poirot in addition to the search for the murderer. Kenneth Branagh and co. tried that last time, but it's only here that it works – this time I was as interested in Poirot as I was in how the case was developing, and I didn't really care that the case was notorious and I already knew the killer. With Death on the Nile, Branagh's Poirot becomes the second best Poirot, and the film's conclusion, its last shot, is already one of the most memorable cinematic moments for me.
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At times Death on the Nile looks like a modern theatre play, at times like a largely impressive colouring book, which is inappropriate for a film of this type. The whole thing is a little bit flat, sweaty, going for power, or rather for effect. Branagh's Poirot is OK, but the rest of the cast is mostly jerking and prancing around. What's missing are real visuals, decent camera work, real sets and, most importantly, a better plot.
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Hercule Poirot for the second time, and another borefest. Murder on the Orient Express is one of the few films where I fell asleep in the cinema, and Death on the Nile has a similarly leisurely pace, but thankfully it didn't cost me my cinema ticket. Nothing happens for an hour, nothing at all. They introduce uninteresting characters in an uninteresting way with uninteresting dialogue, but fortunately in a fairly attractive setting (Egypt, the Nile) – a minor plus point compared to a Train – but I still found it woefully underwhelming. I don't find Hercule Poirot interesting as a detective, he doesn't have any gripping, revolutionary investigative methods, nothing to stand out, he's an intelligent gentleman doing his job but it doesn't add much to the viewing experience. The wait for a murder here is longer than the wait for a payday, and on top of that it's just the usual uninterestingly rendered murders in every other B-grade crime series. I don't see how a fan of Se7en, Hannibal and the like, where everything from the murders to the actual investigation works, can be satisfied with the outcome here. I was counting on at least the final reveal, where an interesting twist might come, but even that is readable from the opening minutes, even without knowing the source material. For me, the prototype of the most useless and least attractive crime drama that the world may see. Only pensioners can be entertained by this. Decent visuals, fine actors, but everything else completely passed me by both cinematically and as a viewer. Story 3/5. Action 0/5, Humour 2/5, Violence 1/5, Fun 2/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 3/5. 4/10.
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I enjoyed this movie in the cinema as opposed to the recent Murder on the Orient Express, which left me completely cold because it was simply a pretentious flamboyant parade of stars with no added value. The filmmakers did not shy away from somewhat tweaking the plot of Death on the Nile. So even though I already knew the end of the story quite well, I ended up being slightly surprised by its development, where the tone of the movie became indiscriminate and somewhat pessimistic. Thumbs up for that.
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Gallery (42)
Photo © 20th Century Studios
![Death on the Nile - Photos - Letitia Wright, Armie Hammer, Gal Gadot, Dawn French, Ali Fazal, Kenneth Branagh](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/164/820/164820656_54d8ce.jpg)
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