"How many great stories are tragedies?"
Hercule Poirot's Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, Death on the Nile is Kenneth Branagh's second Agatha Christie adaptation to the big screen after Murder on the Orient Express back in 2017. I wasn't a big fan of Murder on the Orient Express. It felt lackluster and more of an ensemble piece than anything. With how much this one was delayed and eventually thrown into its February release a couple weeks ago, my expectations were low. I will say, I do think this is better than the first, but not by much. Death on the Nile is definitely not the most interesting murder mystery. Obviously, this is an older story and we've seen it many times before. There are a couple turns that I didn't entirely see coming. However, after the watching the first 20 minutes, you should be able to piece together what's happening all along. Besides the mystery not being all that hard, the biggest weakness of the movie is the introduction of the murder. The movie is almost two hours long and the murder doesn't happen until an hour in. It's a long trek just to get to the point. So much is filler that doesn't need to be there. Easily, this could be 30 minutes shorter.
What the movies fails in story makes up for the cast. We're all aware of the several big name actors attached to this. Not all of them are on the same level, but they do well enough in their parts. Kenneth Branagh isn't the best filmmaker for this series, but he is an excellent Hercule Poirot. He eats up the screen and gives a fully committed performance. The other standouts for me were Annette Bening, Tom Bateman, and Emma Mackey. The actor getting the most attention is Gal Gadot. She is entirely over the top doing her own thing. It's fun to watch how much she's having fun, but it's also out of place. Because of her, the movie can come of as campy when I don't think that's the intent. Still, it's pretty fun. The production value is just as good as the first. I love the costumes and production design. The use of music (not the score) was a nice touch as well. There's not too much else to talk about. Death on the Nile is a fairly average movie, but I found some amusement while watching. It's better than the first which isn't saying much, but at least that's something.
Hercule Poirot's Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, Death on the Nile is Kenneth Branagh's second Agatha Christie adaptation to the big screen after Murder on the Orient Express back in 2017. I wasn't a big fan of Murder on the Orient Express. It felt lackluster and more of an ensemble piece than anything. With how much this one was delayed and eventually thrown into its February release a couple weeks ago, my expectations were low. I will say, I do think this is better than the first, but not by much. Death on the Nile is definitely not the most interesting murder mystery. Obviously, this is an older story and we've seen it many times before. There are a couple turns that I didn't entirely see coming. However, after the watching the first 20 minutes, you should be able to piece together what's happening all along. Besides the mystery not being all that hard, the biggest weakness of the movie is the introduction of the murder. The movie is almost two hours long and the murder doesn't happen until an hour in. It's a long trek just to get to the point. So much is filler that doesn't need to be there. Easily, this could be 30 minutes shorter.
What the movies fails in story makes up for the cast. We're all aware of the several big name actors attached to this. Not all of them are on the same level, but they do well enough in their parts. Kenneth Branagh isn't the best filmmaker for this series, but he is an excellent Hercule Poirot. He eats up the screen and gives a fully committed performance. The other standouts for me were Annette Bening, Tom Bateman, and Emma Mackey. The actor getting the most attention is Gal Gadot. She is entirely over the top doing her own thing. It's fun to watch how much she's having fun, but it's also out of place. Because of her, the movie can come of as campy when I don't think that's the intent. Still, it's pretty fun. The production value is just as good as the first. I love the costumes and production design. The use of music (not the score) was a nice touch as well. There's not too much else to talk about. Death on the Nile is a fairly average movie, but I found some amusement while watching. It's better than the first which isn't saying much, but at least that's something.