I’ve never been a big fan of Agatha Christie or her work. It’s not that I think they are terrible but I’ve never read the books and only seen brief parts of mainly Poirot played in the UK by David Suchet. However a big screen version of Murder on the Orient Express was something that I needed to see.
The opening scene sees Poirot solving a crime and the way that he does it is very good and sprinkled with good humour. I think this does a good job of showing people new to the character what they can expect. It’s simple and brief. Soon the film progresses to the train where the lions share of the movie is set.
As Poirot, Kenneth Branagh is very good. He manages the humour and shows the characteristics that are part of the character but I was never aware that he had been in love. That moustache is outrageous and I spent quite a bit of time watching the moustache instead of paying attention to what was going on.
This film has an all star cast which is normally a dangerous thing but if you have ever seen the Poirot TV version, each episode usually has one or two big names or people that would go on to become big names. This was the first thing I saw Daisy Ridley in since Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In fact a month after this film was released, The Last Jedi was released in cinemas. She’s not the best person in this film but I thought there was a nice air of mystery surrounding her character. It was weird to see Johnny Depp in something other than a Pirates film. He’s gone off the boil in recent years but I thought that he was quite good in this despite meeting an unfortunate end early on in the film. Then there is Judi Dench and Olivia Coleman amongst others. Quite frankly, you could do a review just on the performances but I’m not going to do that. Just to say that all the big names deserve their place in the film and no one lets the side down.
As for the big reveal, I didn’t see it coming. As I said at the beginning of the review, I have never read the books and had never seen this story adapted on TV or film so had no idea and when I discovered it was pretty much everyone, I thought it was quite clever. The reason why they did it I thought was a bit convoluted and managing to get them all on the train had the same problem, but I didn’t mind and thought is still worked well. Poirot’s final speech as he is leaving the train was superbly done by Branagh and showed that even though they had got away with it, they hadn’t really go away with it as they would have to live with it forever.
It’s a beautifully looking film. From the very beginning, its clear that care and attention has been paid what we are seeing. Whilst the action is on the train, Branagh makes great use of a relatively confined space and when the story breaks out of the train on a few occasions, the snow surrounding the train is a great visual. There is one shot which is overhead and shows people going from one room to another and it worked really well and showed how you could keep momentum when you haven’t got much room.
The film ends with Poirot being needed on the Nile leading to another film which comes out at the end of 2020 and I am really looking forward to it. Murder on the Orient Express is a beautifully looking film with a great cast and a solid mystery. Even if you know who did it, you can still marvel in what you are seeing and that is the key to a good film. Murder on the Orient Express may not be everyones cup of tea but I think if you like a mystery then you should enjoy this.
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