Exclusive film review: Murder on the Orient Express

[Warning: potential spoiler in the third paragraph]

DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh

STARRING: Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley

ON AT: CinemaPRO, Glendale Studio, Movieplex Cinema, Grand Cinema & More, Happy Cinema, Hollywood Multiplex, Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Cinema City Mega Mall, Cinema City ParkLake

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After 25 years in the role, it’s hard to associate Detective Hercules Poirot with anyone other than David Suchet. But, British thespian Kenneth Branagh has now donned the twirly moustache for an all-star modern remake of this classic Agatha Christie whodunit. It’s got tough competition: the most memorable adaptation of the novel, the 1974 movie, was similarly shimmering in the cast department, with Albert Finney working the little gray cells as the super-sleuth and Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud and Vanessa Redgrave among the suspects. This time around we have Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer on the passenger list.

It’s also got the impediment that this is practically the only Christie book whose big reveal is impossible to forget, owing to the unusual nature of whodunit. So, as with Columbo, most viewers will have to get their kicks from something other than trying to work out who the killer might be.

Branagh (who also directs) has delivered an appropriately lavish production for a luxury-travel murder, and there are plenty of visual delights. The awkward 1930s attitudes have also had a contemporary reworking – one character even gives another a lecture on racism – although an incidental female character gets unpleasantly short shrift at the beginning, and Poirot doesn’t seem particularly bothered at the child labor used to bring him his breakfast eggs.

A high number of suspects is always a problem with the two-hour murder mystery format, as it can be difficult to acquaint and familiarize the audience with them all before the first victim is dispatched, but Branagh deals well with this challenge, and by the time the train is chuffing out of Turkey, we pretty much know who’s who.

It’s questionable whether this version was needed, but with a big hint at the end that Death on the Nile may follow, it looks like Branagh may be back in the moustache again soon.

By Debbie Stowe