The decision of Kenneth Brangh to bring back Poirot, probably the most popular character created by Christie Agathato make a new version of ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ sounded like little more than a whim at the time, since he himself decided to direct and star in the film.
The result did not please everyone equally, since some did connect with that more modern touch, almost more typical of a blockbuster, that Branagh printed on the film, while others considered it disrespectful. I was one of those who enjoyed ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ and the same has happened to me again with ‘Death on the Nile’, a film that retains the virtues of its predecessor.
You know your strengths very well.
Knowing that the cast is one of the great assets of ‘Death on the Nile’ to seduce the public, Branagh pay special attention to the need to place them well everyone in the viewer’s mind before the inevitable crime changes everything.
There will be those who may be impatient with the calm with which the film takes things before reaching the great mystery, because there is also a bit of delight from Branagh behind the scenes. That is something that is already perceived in its delicious prologuein which a key detail about Poirot’s past is revealed to us, but which remains afterwards.
‘Death on the Nile’ has a lot of fancy pastime, starting with its cast, continuing with the recreations of the scenarios -and the fact is that the entire film was finally shot in England- and without forgetting other technical details such as the costumes. There Branagh once again bets on a certain opulence resolved in a stylish way through a fluid staging work that seeks to highlight the strong points of the function.
That could lead to the great base material that Branagh has in the original novel by Agatha Christie would be lackluster, but fortunately this is not the case, since the film opts for a much more lively rhythm when the first corpse appears, while still raising different possibilities around who could be behind everything.
More intense, less playful
There it is worth recognizing that any viewer versed in this type of plot will deduce relatively soon what the motivation for the crime is, because there is no particularly striking concept out there as it happens in the case of ‘Murder on the Orient Express’. That is offset by a heightened sense of intensity. Not that ‘Death on the Nile’ is going to be a vibrant movie, but it is closerthus achieving that the different lies and secrets around the characters have more impact.
Not that it hurts to have a cast with so many well-known performers. I do think that ‘Death on the Nile’ is perhaps a little step behind ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ and in terms of advertising it will be more difficult due to the presence of Armie Hammer in such a prominent role. After all, now nobody seems to want to be associated with him, but what is really important in the case at hand, nothing negative can be said about his work.
Around all of this we have Branagh’s desire not to completely modernize anything, thus achieving a peculiar balance between a more old-school approach with a visual approach designed to bring it closer to new generations. Also here is a certain quite effective dramatic load in relation to the motivations of its protagonist that helps to give a little more sediment to the whole.
However, there is a counterpart to that, and that is that ‘Death on the Nile’ perhaps it is less playful than desirable. That’s a small sacrifice that I don’t have a problem with, but there will probably be those who would like me to go that route more and end up (slightly) disappointed with what Branagh proposes.
In conclusion
The pity is that ‘Death on the Nile’ is working quite well but at the box office than ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ when it has been significantly more expensive -90 million budget compared to 55 of its predecessor-. There are several reasons for this, but the most likely consequence will be the same: no more Poirot movies with Kenneth Branagh. Let’s hope that’s not the case, because really one is left wanting more. And that here there is no final wink hinting at his return, which did happen in his predecessor.