“Murder on the Orient Express” is a fun and developed story about a private investigator Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh)who becomes stranded on a train on his way home from solving another case. He then must solve a murder on the train and one out of the passengers is the murderer. It’s a very good segue to involving tension and trust issues as the story moves along in the film.
One strength this film has is it’s actors. Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley are only some of the actors who give all of their game in this production. They are all convincing, with their accents, personalities, and “motives”. I didn’t see one weak link in their performances. It was a very good choice of casting.
There is one negative that stood out as a sore thumb for me and that was Branagh’s mustache. It looked as though someone got glue and pasted it on his upper lip—oh no that’s what they did! I was up and center under that movie screen in row ‘A’ because the others were sold out. I could see the seams and prosthetic glue keeping that thing on his face. It took me out of the movie for a while and then I got over it.
I had not seen any of the adaptations or read Agatha Christie’s novel, so I went into this film with a clean slate. I was thoroughly impressed. I don’t love it, but I like it. My co-workers on the other hand are not fans at all with this adaptation. They felt that it didn’t stay true to Poirot’s character and had a ton of plot holes that the book covers. I’m glad now that I didn’t know the plot or what the book had in it. I judged this film by what I saw on screen, and I what I saw was a good film with a good character who progresses in the case as we did as the audience. Needless to say, I have different taste in films than my co-workers, but that shouldn’t affect by what I think. This film is a good one that is worth your money.
Kenneth Branagh in “Murder on the Orient Express”
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