[Review] Murder On The Orient Express (6/10)

Kenneth Branagh in a weirdly stylish mustache as Hercule Poirot was like a perfect casting. Not only did he managed a convincing accent, but they way he created this character was mesmerizing to watch in Murder On The Orient Express.

As a director directing a great ensemble of stars, Branagh as usual is an expert. All the actors seemed to have been swallowed by their characters, though a few rising stars but fresh faces like Daisy Ridley, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Leslie Odom, Jr. benefited from being seen only a second time onscreen after something popular they were in.

(Ridley of course was the lead in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Garcia-Rulfo was in The Magnificent Seven, and Odom, Jr. came from the TV series "Smash" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit".)

All in all, this was a great cast to have for an ensemble movie, with a great source material from author Agatha Christie. So, why did it not do any better at the box office?

The setup was great. Once the murdered victim was established, then came the investigation. And there were just too many characters that we have to go through, to a point where I did not even bother to keep track because there was just too many to begin with.

What made it worse was that two more characters were introduced only halfway through to add into the whole mix, played by Sergei Polunin and Lucy Boynton.

And then came the muddy middle in terms of Branagh's storytelling. This was nothing close to his greatest work at all when it came to creating that sense of thrill and mystery. The dialogue between characters, especially when there were only two and Branagh was trying to make it like a riddle while his character Poirot was the only one who could solve it, was difficult to follow and forced the audience to just accept what was happening onscreen. It was not engaging and hence, lost the audience's interest.

As for the ending, I personally thought that this may not be the best story to tell as a first movie. The way the mystery unfolded itself felt more of a grand scale masterminding and it was not as satisfying as had there been more sleuthing by Poirot.

I hope Branagh gets a second chance to do another movie with this character because he looked like he enjoyed himself immensely and passion always is a good driver for any undertaking.