Forget the sniffy critics, this is a fabulous film

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 2017)

Kenneth Branagh does it again. For many years the sniffy set of Guardian-types would turn up their Metropolitan noses at Agatha Christie. Her writing was, evidently, not high-brow, she churned out too many and (horror of horrors) she wrote airport thrillers.
But Christie understood human nature in its myriad forms and she wrote accordingly: at times with brilliance.
It is this which Kenneth Branagh so fabulously unveils in his Murder on the Orient Express. Yes, he has assembled a world class cast of superstar actors, but it's Branagh himself, both as actor and Director, who pulls the real meaning of this story out.
This is a tale of loss, sorry, unrequited grief and, above all, revenge. You don't get much more powerful emotions in human existence and these are wonderfully executed here.
It's fantastic, even if you know the plot. Go and see it and watch this wonderful tale again from a different perspective. Don't go just for light-hearted entertainment. It is that on one level. But it's also a tale which plumbs the depths of human existence: what Poirot calls 'the poison of deep grief.'
Fabulous film.