A perfectionist dealing with imperfection

Rating: 7/10 (2 December 2017)

I'm referring to both myself and Kenneth Branagh's character, Hercule Poirot, in the title. This isn't a perfect movie - then again very few, if any movies are - but it's far, FAR better than The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi combined. I'll get into why I'm comparing it to those train-wrecks later. First, I should say that I haven't read Agatha Christie's novel so I don't know how faithful this is. The only version of this story I've seen was from Doctor Who, and that version took place in the future, in space, and had a Mummy who lets you live for 66 seconds when you see it.
With my ignorance of source material out of the way, let's get to the actual review. The most interesting character in the movie is Hercule Poirot, which works fine since he's the lead. A brilliant detective (albeit a somewhat egotistical one, as he proclaims himself "the best detective in the world") and a perfectionist through and through, right down to requesting that people straighten their ties, his character arc is about realizing that justice and injustice can depend on people's points of view, and that not everybody can be separated into the categories of good and bad. There are shades of grey, which throws his view of perfection, be it perfect innocence or perfect villainy, into question. Kenneth Branagh did a good job at directing the movie, but it might have been better if he'd let someone else do that, because he stood out more as an actor than a director. His ridiculous mustache and strange accent were somewhere between charming and annoying but what made him likable to me were his perfectionist tendencies, as I'm a perfectionist myself.
Unfortunately, since the movie has to juggle so many characters, some performers don't get the amount of screen-time that they deserve. Branagh seemed so focused on crafting the film around his own performance that he forgot to give his co-stars time to shine. For example, the legendary actress Judi Dench has played many different roles such as Queen Victoria and Lady MacBeth and holds a special place in my memory as M from James Bond, but she wasn't given much to do in this movie. Penelope Cruz's character also receives little attention although she has enough time to talk about Lucifer and God. Even Michelle Pfeiffer, who looks incredible for a woman who's rapidly approaching her sixtieth birthday (she's well over twice my age but she's somehow managed to stay attractive), didn't leave much of an impression, for better or worse. With so many characters fighting for screen-time, it's hard to become memorable.
However two performers outside of Branagh did manage to be memorable, one in a good way and one in a not-so-good way. Despite looking at the cast before I entered the movie, I didn't recognize Johnny Depp at all whilst he was playing Edward Ratchett. He didn't have much screen-time but in the time that he had, he was sleazy and clearly had a shady past, but fear motivated him to carry a gun wherever he went and request Poirot's help, showing that he was still human. I literally never recognized him as the same man who brought us the eccentric Jack Sparrow, perhaps because he looked presentable instead of a drunken mess. It seems to me that Johnny Depp has a rather forgettable face but that works in his favour because it allows him to get as close to literally disappearing into his characters as a live-action actor can get.
Now let's get to why I mentioned The Force Awakens. Daisy Ridley is annoying. Her voice sticks out like a sore thumb and she doesn't seem to be very bright, but the most annoying part... was that she actually wasn't that bad in this film. After her lousy performance in The Force Awakens, I was ready to tear this performance apart, but she toned down the over-the-top expressions and even her irritating voice suited Mary much more than Rey. One can always tell it's her voice and it doesn't blend in, but due to the time period and her character's social class, it doesn't sound nearly as out of place as it did on Rey. Ridley is just a pretty face with little brainpower behind it, but she's better here than she was in both of her Star Wars movies put together, which plays into my understanding of Poirot's story arc. Just as he must come to terms with how good and bad, as well as justice and injustice, are not black and white, I must come to terms with the fact that Daisy Ridley's not a terrible actress and my judgment isn't always perfect. It seems that supporting characters are more suitable for her, which emphasizes how poorly cast and directed she was in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. It also proves that, for all his faults, Kenneth Branagh is a far better director than Jar Jar Abrams or Ruin Johnson (pardon me for the immature name calling but frankly, those two hacks deserve it).