Murder on the 'Mediocre' Express

Rating: 6/10 (13 November 2017)

Movie Review: Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Director: Kenneth Branagh Studio: 20th Century Fox Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery Release: 2017 Run Time: 1 Hour 54 Minutes IMDb Rating: 6.8/10 Metacritic Score: 53/100 Rotten Tomatoe %: 58
First Impressions –
This film is the fourth adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel, following the 1974 film, a 2001 made for TV movie and a 2010 episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot. I had a budget of $55 Million and features and all star cast.
The Plot –
The movie opens with the establishment of our detective who must solve the case of an artifact thief in Jerusalem. Soon after he is granted passage to his next destination on the famous Orient Express. However, during a troubling weather event, the train is stopped and a murder takes place. It is up to the detective to find out who is responsibly for the murder, and everyone is a suspect. The main problem with this movie is the problem that most movies that are adapted from novels or other literature have; it is severely missing details. Details that without we cannot become invested in various elements of the mystery and the entire film for that matter. The movie is well focused once the murder is discovered but without some important information that we as viewers are denied, it becomes difficult to understand at parts and throughout I couldn't help but question why I should care about certain things.
Characters and Acting –
While directing, Kenneth Branagh also stars as the main character; Hercule Poirot, a Belgian man who describes himself as "Possibly the greatest detective in the world". Branagh does a fine job playing the character and giving him a great identity but unfortunately that's where the interesting and stand out characters stop I'm afraid. It's almost a shame and a waste that this movie is jam packed full of talented and A-List actors but none of them shine whatsoever in their roles. They lack to convey anything interesting in the slightest, they have very little screen time between them and spend most of the movie staring outside of a train window. It's impossible to talk about the actors roles without spoilers but the A-List includes: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley and Willem Dafoenot one of these actors give a necessarily bad performance but are incredibly under utilized to say the least. A big problem at the beginning of the movie and few times throughout was some of the line delivery was a tiny bit corny and silly, that being said the lines they were delivering didn't fit the context of a movie or a scene and it just felt as if they were reading some lines straight from the novel with little to no direction or context. It was incredibly distracting but only happened a few times with one or two B list actors.
Film Techniques –
This movie has some creative camera work and interesting shots that utilize the setting of a train well but can at times be distracting. For example, when one shot involves weaving through the windows outside a train whilst two characters are talking it comes difficult to focus on what is going o when you only see them for mini-seconds at a time while the rest of what you see fro that scene is just the metal of a train. The music is fine and the small amount of action is gripping enough; the movie uses a surprising amount of CG for it's set pieces and back grounds, it ranges from not half bad to clearly fake.
Tones and Themes –
The tone of the film is consistent and it shifts well from the serious mystery to a few light moments of humour here and there. The theme of the movie is justice, but it gets more complicated than that when some things unfold.
Conclusion –
This movie did it's job in keeping me intrigued throughout with it's mystery and entertained me enough to feel like satisfied with the performance of the main character but with it's lack luster usage of it's great cast and lack of overall detail, it didn't deliver on a memorable or intense enough murder mystery.
Would I Recommend? Yes
Would I Watch Again? No
My Score – 6.6/10