gorgeous-looking with stupid additions and one UNACCEPTABLE omission

Rating: 6/10 (1 December 2017)

Kenneth Branagh and and all-star cast ride the Orient Express in "Murder on the Orient Express," a remake of the magnificent 1974 film. The stars, besides Branagh, are Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Depp, Derek Jacobi, Judy Dench, Penelope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, and Leslie Odom, Jr.
For those who don't know the story, it concerns the murder on the Orient Express, which is stalled out due to an avalanche. Poirot is asked to investigate and finds many clues and many anomalies.
The care taken with the cinematography, the costumes, the performances, the interior settings of the train, all went out the window when the screenwriter failed to deliver.
First off, we have Hercules Poirot, who looks ridiculous, solving an unrelated case, then talking to a picture of his beloved Katherine. Who the hell is she? Why was this added?
Also, if you know the story, it's possibly more interesting than if you don't. One thing I will say, unlike others, is that the film didn't seem boring to me or my sisters. I imagine you'll find that complaint from younger people, but I could be wrong.
I could have put up with anything, but when a script introduces a clue and Poirot doesn't pick up on - uh, we have a problem. The problem is sloppy writing. On the night that Ratchit was killed, a disturbance is heard, and the porter knocks on the door to see if he's all right. He answers in French. Here he says, "It's nothing." In the original film, he says, "cauchemar" (nightmare).
Why tell us that and then have one of the characters say that Ratchit didn't speak a word of French, if Poirot wasn't going to realize a) he didn't answer; and b) someone else was in his room. But that clue is never brought up. No, these writers can't be bothered with a petty detail like that.
Branagh is a youngish, attractive Poirot with an absurd mustache - although he is good, it's not enough, and he's not Poirot. It's always a pleasure to see people like Jacobi, Colman, Pfeiffer. It's a good cast, but the original cast was on a consistently higher level with Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Vanessa Redgrave, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery - I could go on but you get the point.
With its extraneous story details and lack of wit, I'm giving this a 6. Hollywood, come up with something original.