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 (4)
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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 (12)
Overwrought and overly lavish crime drama in the hands of a first-class connoisseur, aesthete, pedant and lover of classic literary subjects all in one. That it doesn’t work very well as a whole? That is true and that is what it looks like. Not that Branagh isn't good in front of the camera, on the contrary, he is the best of the lot, but he is also the only watchable thing, unless you count the impressive camera sequences of Istanbul and the mountain heights, but you can put on Discovery Channel for that, and you will spare yourself the disappointment of unfulfilled expectations of a quality and solid detective story.
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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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I love the old version with Albert Finney, but the new one by Kenneth Branagh certainly doesn't disgrace it. However, the director and the main actor in one person decided – quite logically and, I think, rightly – not to try to make any fundamental statement against it or the source material. So although the trailers try to suggest that we're going to see some brisker pacing and maybe even some action, it's still the right kind of Poirot dialogue. And just like the film's classics, it stands on its excellent cast, great performances, dialogue and of course how perfectly thought out the whole thing is. Branagh treats the book with reverence, but at the same time doesn't shy away from a more modern and clever use of cinematography and excellent music work. And the result is the most honest whodunit I could have imagined given the source material. It goes exactly as it should.
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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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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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