Murder on the Orient Express

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Let me start this off by saying that I have yet to see the original 1974 film, and therefore have no basis for comparison between the two. Nor have I read the book by Agatha Christie. So I'm pretty much going into this blind, which may be good or bad. Is it good because I don't know what's going to happen? Or is it bad because I can't see whether or not this is a faithful adaptation? Basically this review is more directed to those like me, who may be totally unfamiliar with the story. Anyway, I guess I know what next week's "Catching Up" review will be.

Taking place in 1934, here we follow the world-famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh). After just solving a case of theft in Jerusalem, he looks forward to some much needed down time. However, he receives a telegram from London about a case, and now he must travel back home to take it on. He runs into a friend, Bouc (Tom Bateman), who gets him a spot on the Orient Express, being the train's director.

As the train barrels trough a rather nasty storm, an avalanche ends up stranding them until a rescue team can get to them. Overnight, a murder takes place on the train, and as one can guess, it's up to Poirot to determine who the killer is. There is quite a list of suspects here, too. And, not unlike the original film, it's mostly consistent with some pretty big names. Daisy Ridley, William Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Leslie Odom Jr, Penélope Cruz, and Josh Gad are the main cast of characters here, all of whom do a pretty damn good job here with what they have. However, that unfortunately brings me to my biggest criticism about the movie.

This is quite an all-star cast they have here, but there are several characters who I didn't feel they did a hell of a lot with. Being that they come from the original story, however, it's understandable that they're all needed. But I would say, on the whole, Dafoe, Odom Jr. and Cruz take a particular back seat to Ridley, Dafoe, Depp, Gad and Pfeiffer. I would say Dench meets a sort of happy medium. It really just ends up making me wonder how much they were used in the original book, because none of them felt overly important to all of this, despite them being connected.

What really balances it all out, however, is our director/actor, Kenneth Branagh. Visually speaking, he hired the right team here. I found it fairly remarkable that so many angles could be done with such a tight space as a train. It's the first time I've been impressed with something like that since 'Buried'. On top of it all though, it was just his performance as Poirot that completely sold it. I'm not overly familiar with Poirot, so I don't pretend to understand how accurate his performance really is. But here, he adds just enough humor to his role that one can laugh at what he says and does, but you still enjoy and respect him as this genius character.

This movie sort of met me somewhere in the middle. At points, I found things pretty confusing, and again, I had the lack of interest in some of these characters. But Poirot, himself, the cinematography and the actors' performances (NOT the same thing as having a small and uninteresting role!) were all really great. In the end, the good definitely outweighs the bad, and I would say that if you're already a fan of these Agatha Christie mysteries, give it a shot. It's a 3 for me, but it's an enthusiastic 3.

3/5

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