One of the sleeper hit movies of 2017 was Murder on the Orient Express, a re-telling of the classic Agatha Christie novel set on the iconic train. Kenneth Branagh starred as Poirot and directed the movie and a quite astounding, ensemble cast. It largely flew under the radar but held modest success and acclaim. I thought it was a beautiful launch of a new re-imagining of the iconic detective and was eager to see more.
The sequel, Death on the Nile was filmed in 2019 but its release was then held due to the pandemic. It finally arrived in February 2022 and is now available on streaming.
The film tells the tale of Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer) and his rejection of fiancee Jackie De Bellefort (Emma Mackey) in favour of heiress Linett Ridgeway (Gal Gadot). Six weeks later, the couple are married in Egypt, though they find themselves stalked by the shunned De Bellefort. To try to escape her, Ridgeway hires a large paddle steamer for a cruise on the nile. Whilst at an ancient temple, De Bellefort again joins the party. Shortly after this, Ridgeway is murdered and so begins the whodunnit with Poirot as lead investigator.
Branagh plays the part of Poirot in a truly interesting and fresh way. The arrogance and ego of the detective are at the forefront but this movie exposes another side to Poirot. One where he shows a more emotional side and, in places, loses his customary cool in favour of it.
The supporting cast are superb. Gal Gadot, fresh from her incarnation as Wonder Woman is clearly trying to prove that she is more than an iconic super hero. There is an air of superiority to her character that sells her portrayal very effectively. Similarly, Emma Mackey brings true menace and psychosis to her role as the jilted lover. It is also wonderful to see Annette Benning as the “mother of the groom” who is entirely unwilling to allow any woman to take her son. French and Saunders are delightful though they tend to lurk in the background. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Such an ensemble cast, as with Murder on the Orient Express needs to be very carefully managed. The purpose is to sell the story of the movie, not to give each and every character ‘x’ minutes of spotlight, regardless of the stature of those performing.
I felt the opening act of the movie was maybe a little too slow but once the cruise began, everything from there moved very quickly and effectively leading to the inevitable interviews, reveals, surprises and shocks along the way. The body count inevitably increases as Poirot nears the understanding of the perpetrators. The climax of the movie was certainly not perfectly executed with those involved being a little too eager to admit their guilt. However, the drama did not stop there so I still felt the ending was both surprising and satisfying.
Murder on the Orient Express was a modest success, making $352m at the box office on a $55m production budget so made good money. The same, unfortunately cannot be said of Death on the Nile. It was gifted a higher production budget of $90m, and this was used to great effect with the location and set work being, frankly, beautiful. However it only grossed £136m at the worldwide box office, meaning it made a practical loss for the studio. There are, in my opinion, many reasons for this with the pandemic at the top of the list. The problem, of course, is that when this is pitched against the fact that Spiderman was able to bring millions back to the cinema at the end of 2021, maybe COVID in itself cannot be the sole reason for the disappointing result. Instead, I think the fact that the movie was delayed for so long with relatively little money being put into promotion during its actual release is likely also a factor.
I, for one, hope that 20th Century Studios and Disney keep the faith in this franchise and make at least one more, just to prove if it can be a success or not. Branagh certainly deserves it. He is carving a new and unique Poirot, one that has tragedy, success, ego and fragility about him that is quite compelling. Maybe with a slightly smaller budget and slightly constrained visual ambition about the piece, this franchise could flourish.
