Ignore the naysayers...it was delightful!

Rating: 9/10 (14 August 2018)

Wow...kind of unusual that I would be so at odds with most of the reviews, here. But I LOVED this remake! I do have to admit...I wasn't the biggest fan of the 1974 version, so maybe that's why. And it's not that I just reject older Agatha Christie movies. I loved Death on the Nile (1978), and Evil Under the Sun (1982). But this remake was beautifully shot, well written, and DIDN'T move at a seemingly glacial pace, which is something that occasionally annoys me about a lot of early 70's films. I love film from every time period, but seriously...I think the popularity of quaaludes had an obviously quantifiable effect on the films of the 70's. Everything was soooooooo drawn out and kind of boring. And washed out, color-wise. Yes, yes, I know I'm going to catch a ton of s**t about this. Anyway, I thought the actors did a fine job, and I especially have to single out Branagh for his take on Hercule Poirot (and his directing!). I would never have believed anyone could replace Peter Ustinov in my heart as Poirot, but he made the character his own. He went with a more serious, more complex and tortured, more inward-looking Poirot, instead of the quippy, sassy, amused and amusing Poirot that Ustinov gave us...which is not to say Branagh's Poirot was humorless..."Forgive me, I am Belgian" had me laughing out loud. It was an interesting choice, and a smart one, in my humble opinion. I absolutely cannot wait to see him in Death on the Nile (if the hint of a sequel at the end of this film is portentous)!!!