A wild and bloated entry for fans of whodunnits.
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Death on the Nile sees Kenneth Branagh reprise his role as the intuitive detective Hercule Poirot. Branagh once again takes on double duty as both star and director of the film, as he did Murder on the Orient Express back in 2017. The screenplay by Michael Green stays true to the Agatha Christie 1937 novel of the same name, with nuances in various characters and details.
After Poirot chances upon longtime friend Buoc (Tom Bateman), he ends up at the lavish honeymoon of wealthy socialite Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot) and husband Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer). It isn’t long before he is commissioned by the newlyweds to deter the bitterly resentful ex-fiancé of Doyle, Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey), from hounding and stalking them.
The honeymoon continues aboard the S.S. Karnak. In addition to Poirot, Bouc, Linnet and Simon are Linnet’s godmother Marie van Schuyler and her companion Mrs. Bowers (played by longtime comedic partners Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French respectfully), Linnet’s maid Louise Bourget (Rose Leslie), Linnet’s lawyer Andrew Katchadourian (Ali Fazal), Linnet’s former fiance Dr. Windlesham (Russell Brand), jazz singer Salome Otterbourne (Sophie Okonedo) and her niece Rosalie (Letitia Wright); and Bouc’s mother Euphemia (Annette Bening). The party’s barely begun when a passenger is found murdered.
Death on the Nile is enlivened by its all-star cast which saves the film from being entirely insipid. But even then it struggles to hold a flame to its predecessor that brags a far superior ensemble.
Having said that, Branagh and Mackey do offer impressive performances, bringing sincere emotional gravity with their characters which adds to the drama while English comedian Brand proves himself worthy against typecasting.
The film’s execution is sophisticated and charmingly old-fashioned, a visually pleasing guise that makes up for its otherwise lackluster plot.
Despite its predictable sequence of events, Death on the Nile still left me on the edge of my seat. Once a sucker for whodunnits, always a sucker for whodunnits.
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