Excellent cast, poor execution

Rating: 5/10 (8 December 2019)

Murder on the Orient Express is based off of the classic Agatha Christine novel and is directed, produced and stars Kenneth Branagh. The movie also stars Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfieffer, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Daisy Ridley, Penelope Cruz, and many more. So all these strangers on a train until one of them is murdered and its up to Kenneth Branagh to solve the mystery. I've never read Agatha Christie before, but I like a good mystery movie because I can use my brain to figure out who the killer is. The first half of the movie is good, well maybe not the beginning, which I felt was out of place, but when were introduced to everyone on the train and a murder goes down, that's when the real drama begins. And after that that's pretty much it actually. I found myself bored and uninterested in the mystery and what was going on that I lost focus. The movie is entertaining I'll give it credit, but the problem with this is that it's a star-studded cast, but only half of them get any screen time. They choose to focus on half of the characters and the rest they leave in the wind. We don't get any character development for Willem Dafoe or Judi Dench for example and its not until the end where the characters we forgotten have a backstory that feels rushed. And by then its not interesting anymore its an entertaining murder mystery with no real development at all. I was really disappointed overall.