By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr, Michelle Pfeiffer, Manuel García-Rulfo, Marwan Kenzari, Daisy Ridley, Olivia Colman, Tom Bateman, Sergei Polunin, Lucy Boynton and Johnny Depp.
Rating: Good.
Actor/Director Kenneth Branagh brings his 16th film as a director with “Murder on the Orient Express” a remake of the 1974 film directed by Sidney Lumet and this in a certain way was an interesting approach.
Based on the novel of the same name by Agatha Christie the movie centers in Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) a detective from Belgium who´s reputation is very high and has the ability to resolve the most complicated cases.
In his way to London to resolve the case he is invited to aboard the train Orient Express by it´s director Bouc (Tom Bateman). Poirot will be in the train from Istanbul to it´s final destination in a matter of three days.
In the train he will meet illoustrous characters that consist in an American Tourist named Caroline Hubbard (Michelle Pfeiffer), An Aristocrat Princess Dragomiroff (Judi Dench),The Physician Doctor Arbuthnot (Leslie Odom Jr.), The Governess Mary Debenham (Daisy Ridley), The Assistant Hector MacQueen (Josh Gad), The Missionary Pilar Estravados (Penélope Cruz), The Maid Hildegarde Schmidt (Olivia Colman), The Valet Masterman (Derek Jacobi), The Professor Gerhard Hardman (Willem Dafoe), The Dancer Count Andrenyi (Sergei Polunin), An Addict Countess Andrenyi (Lucy Boynton), A Businessman Biniamino Márquez (Manuel García-Rulfo), The Attendant Pierre Michel (Marwan Kenzari) and The Fugitive Edward Ratchett (Johnny Depp).
One night during the trip a murder occurs and it happens to be Ratchett who ends up being killed.
Now Poirot must resolve the case where every single one of the passengers is a prime suspect.
Poirot will be in the race against time where not only he most resolve the case and delivered it to the Turkish authorities, but his reputation will be at stake.
I have mentioned in this space that I am not a fan of remakes, specially of movies that are considered classics. Here it can be an exception and “Murder in the Orient Express” is a very well made remake in terms of filmmaking.
The production design by Jim Clay who has worked in movies like “Children of Men” and “Match Point” was very precise. The way how he illustrated the interiors of the train were very sharp and The Costume Design was very good as well.
The Cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos who worked with Branagh in films like “Cinderella” and “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” was very good. The way how he used his lighting and the shots that were in this picture were beautifully made. Branagh did a very good job in the looks of the film but the main problema was story wise.
The screenplay by Michael Green had too many flaws and I believe that it had to much backstory.
I was surprised about this since Green wrote two incredible movies like “Logan” and “Blade Runner 2049” where he wrote very interesting characters and specially with a lot of conflict that made us an audience to root for them at all times.
The beauty of Sidney Lumet`s versión was the fact that you knew from the beginning what was going on and there wasn´t any backstory in the film until the main catharsis of the film.
Here I think that it wasn´t necessary to illustrate how good Hercule Poirot is and that he likes boiled eggs in the film. Honestly I didn´t care about that and this is one of the major flaws of the film.
I would have put Poirot going straight to the case and then the introduction of the characters in the train.
I felt the movie was too slow and it´s length was shorter than Lumet´s versión. This however was not the case and it made the movie very predictable.
It´s very difficult to make a remake of a movie that is considered a classic and this proves my point.
Branagh didn´t get the best out of his cast and the performances were very weak. I am very surprised since Branagh is a director who normally gets the best out of his cast and deliver good performances. I believe that he was more focused on the looks of the film than performance and this was the result of it.
I enjoyed “Murder on the Orient Express” but I liked the version of 1974 better. I give this version a marginal recommendation due to the screenplay of the film. If you want to see a beautifully shot film I think you will enjoy it and will have a great time.