A Fantastic atmospheric classical style mystery - with great actors/actresses!

Rating: 8/10 (13 November 2017)

Wow, I didn't see this coming! I had seen previews and since I'm a British mystery book enthusiast, I very much was interested in the movie. But my expectations were not very high, because of all the disappointing drek that Hollywood has been churning out in recent history. Hollywood seems to have been having a really rough time in trying to make good movies lately.
So I was very surprised at just how good this movie turned out to be. It's filmed in a very classical style, and reminds me of older movies, when they knew how to make good movies. Great atmosphere of a luxury train in the 1930s, and the train interior scenes are done in a way that doesn't feel cramped at all, like you might think. It all feels very natural.
The ensemble cast is excellent. My favorite characters and performances in the movie were Kenneth Branagh as the esteemed detective Hercule Poirot, Willem Dafoe as Professor Gerhard Hardman, and especially Michelle Pfeiffer as Caroline Hubbard.
I don't know what it is about Michelle Pfeiffer, but I have taken a real liking to her as she has become an older actress. I used to not like her at all when she was "young and hot", but now I think she is a really good actress and I'm excited to see her name in a film. Here, she is really superb playing a mature woman who still has a wild streak in her, and she almost steals the entire movie all by herself.
But Kenneth Branagh also gives a sterling performance, and I was very impressed by his portrayal of the detective Poirot in the movie. He was pretty amazing in how authentic the character came across as, and had a hell of a presence in the movie, basically anchoring the whole movie around his performance.
Willem Dafoe was solid, as usual, as a fine character actor. And he had a really good reveal type scene near the end of the film, I thought. That said, the acting from all the characters in the movie, both major and minor, was of a very high caliber overall.
The film's mystery is based on the famous Agatha Christie novel, which I must confess I never read. So, the entire plot was a surprise to me, and I have to say it was a damn fine mystery! I now know why this book is one of Agatha Christie's most famous mystery novels, its quite fantastic! I didn't see the solution coming at all, and even though I have read numerous detective books and seen a ton of mystery TV shows, the climax even surprised me, which shows just how special this mystery really is -- definitely written by a master.
My only real criticism is that the film is shot in 65mm, which gives the film kind of a fantasy, story-book like look to the whole film. A lot of the landscape shots especially looked fake and like CGI because of this.
I prefer the more realistic look that you get from normal 35mm film.
A minor complaint is the film feels a bit rushed to me, and maybe should have been half an hour longer. This is a very unusual complaint coming from me, because I don't like and often will criticize the too long running times of many movies these days. But this movie felt like it could have used another half hour to expand upon, and not feel so rushed.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys traditional style mysteries, it really is a must-see!