Murder on the Orient Express is a 2017 drama/mystery film directed by Kenneth Branagh, and is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. The film stars Kenneth Branagh, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley. The film is the fourth adaptation of Christie’s novel, and takes place on a lavish train ride that unfolds into a stylish and suspenseful mystery as one man races to try and solve the puzzle before another murder strikes again.
Okay, so just a heads up to anyone reading this review. Just because a lot of critics didn’t enjoy this movie doesn’t mean I’m jumping on the bandwagon as well. To be honest I really don’t understand the issue that so many people are having with the film. In my opinion, Murder was one of the best “gotcha” films of this year, and I was beyond impressed with this year’s choice for theVade List. So lets get into the review.
So to start things off, this film features one of the best list of cast members I have seen to date. I was honestly surprised by how many people signed onto this film while knowing that they might not have that much screen time to work with. Out of the entire cast Branagh absolutely kills it as Hercule Poirot. The guy knows how to act, and really puts some weight into his character. Not to mention his mustache is to die for. Depp also did a great job as well as Gad, but the person that shocked me the most was Michelle Pfeiffer. To be honest I’m not a huge fan of her in general, but she did a fantastic job in this film.
Although the film threw a bunch of characters at you all at once, I felt it did a really good job at pacing itself. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the opening exposition with Branagh’s character, as I felt it didn’t really add anything to the plot, but that’s more of a personal issue I had with the film. Of course I understand that it was used to educate the audience on how incredible Poirot is at his job, but the movie could have done it in a different way that I think would have been a lot more.. entertaining? I don’t know, I just personally found that it didn’t really add anything to the character for me.
Murder was another one of those very beautifully shot films, and although a lot people didn’t really talk about this in their reviews, I think this movie pays a lot of tribute to old fashioned films. There are a bunch of long takes and the unique camera angles that Branagh incorporated were absolutely stunning at times. There were also a couple of scenes where the CGI felt a little out of place, but for the most part the visuals in this film were stunning.
The movie also had a pretty solid plot leaving the audience guessing as to who the murderer really is, and by the time the big reveal came, I was honestly shocked in my seat. I had my guesses, but they were by no means close. The funny thing about my guess was that it was in reference to a previous scene that was shown in the opening exposition that I didn’t really find enjoyable. Makes me almost question why they would have put that in there if it was not to be referred to later on in the film. But unlike a lot of films that I review on here, Murder on the Orient Express features one of the best twists in the history cinema, even though it has the same ending as both the older and newer versions of the film.. although I heard the TV series was pretty bad.
Another little issue I found with the film was that I sometimes had a hard time understanding what Branagh was saying since his accent was so heavy. This left me a little disappointed and confused, but this didn’t result in me having an issue in following along with the story, as I had a pretty easy time with that. There were also some times of comedic relief that I didn’t really find all that funny, as you could tell they were trying to humanize Branagh’s character a little bit too much. In my opinion I don’t think he should be all that funny, as that doesn’t really go with the seriousness of his character.
Although I don’t usually do this in my reviews, I heard a lot of people complaining that this film doesn’t really spend enough time on certain character’s backstories resulting in the audience having no idea who each person is in reference to their name, where they came from, etc. I can understand that in a sense as I never really knew each person by their actual names, but that never really took away from me understanding where Branagh’s character was going in each scene either. Just like I how I had a hard time understanding what Branagh was saying in some scenes, I generally got the point of each character’s interactions and where the scene/plot was headed. So in a sense the fact that the movie didn’t dive too deep into each character specifically didn’t really bother me.. cause if they did.. well.. it wouldn’t be twist at the end.
In conclusion, Murder on the Orient Express is a film that you’ll either love or just enjoy. Those that love it will most likely be actively working with Branagh’s character, while those who just enjoy it will probably not. It’s a film you have to constantly follow if you want to understand it completely, but if you don’t you might just end up getting lost or bored. The film has a fantastic cast that may have been a little underused, but its visuals are to die for and the story is very original. The twist at the end is incredibly unpredictable, and although I found the beginning personally a little boring, Murder on the Orient Express is actually pretty well paced. In the end I decided to give Murder on the Orient Express a “Very Good” on theVade Review Bar. While many other critics might not agree with me on this one, I was definitely all aboard.
