Movie Review — Murder on the Orient Express [2017]
A MILDLY BUMPY RIDE
Kenneth Branagh once again helms a movie whose story comes from a long-abandoned genre. While normally he likes to do Shakespeare, this time he is adapting Agatha Christie’s most famous mystery novel: Murder on the Orient Express. The twists added to the story help make it more palatable to modern audience expectations. It is full of moments that are thrilling, humorous, charming, beautiful, and intensely dramatic. If you are unfamiliar with the story or its previous 1974 adaptation, this remake is well worth seeing.
An elegant train ride turns into a dire mystery when one of the passengers of the Orient Express is murdered during the night. Unfortunately for the culprit, world-renowned Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is among the train’s thirteen passengers. While stuck in a snow drift, Poirot must hurry and solve the case before the murderer strikes again — or worse — escapes the stranded train.
Kenneth Branagh, who directs and stars in this movie, has a very difficult task ahead of him in adapting Murder on the Orient Express. The 1974 film is considered a classic, so remaking it must serve some purpose. That goal seems to be making the movie more palatable to modern audiences. I am unsure of how familiar people are with this story, but I imagine most have never seen or read the previous versions. But, Branagh adds more drama and action to the movie, making it feel much more modern and less “boring” than the ’74 version. Both movies have their own strengths. I won’t comment on which I like better, but this adaptation is poised to introduce Poirot to whole new audiences. That alone makes this remake worthwhile.
The first half of the movie has plenty of charm and wit. The opening sequence was a simple, fun, and effective way of introducing the character of Hercule Poirot. The second half of the movie loses a lot of that playful character in service of an intense tone that teeters on melodrama. While the injection of action sequences and elevated drama might turn off most film critics, the move will most likely gel better with audiences who are accustomed to being inundated by action movies.
The ensemble for Murder on the Orient Express seems almost too perfect. Each actor fills their roles as though they were born to play these characters. It is a bit of a shame that the actors don’t really get to fully embrace their characters. Branagh is probably the weakest of the casting choices, choosing to be a much more handsome and manly rendition of the Poirot character. Still, it is inappropriate to judge a movie by what it is not, rather than what it is. As such, the acting is fine with a few moments that shine above the rest.
The movie is absolutely gorgeous to watch. The Orient Express interior is elegant to the point of evoking envious fantasies of chartering such a locomotive. This, coupled with the retro-chic of 1930s fashion, makes the movie gush with a romantic nostalgia. The sets, costumes, and makeup are all fantastic, even though Branagh’s interpretation of Poirot’s iconic mustache is baffling (I have literally never seen a mustache like that in my life). One sour point is the movie’s mediocre use of CG. At best it is merely serviceable. At worst, it is an ugly juxtaposition to the rest of the set design. The rendering of Aleppo was especially ugly. Mercifully, the scenes using CG were few and far between.
While Murder on the Orient Express wasn’t everything I had hoped it would be, it was still very fun to watch. The choices Kenneth Branagh made in his adaptation were often interesting, and often even stronger than the original’s. There was still plenty of room for improvement, but little to be disappointed about. Again, if you have never seen the 1974 film or read the book, I completely recommend seeing this movie. If you have, there are worse ways to spend an afternoon.