A no tension crime snoozer

Rating: 4/10 (4 November 2017)

Branagh has re-imagined our favourite five foot four dark haired dandy detective as a faults finding Teutonic styled giant. We therefore set off on the wrong foot. Poirot's mental tussling with the truth of the story, as it is later explained in full, is therefore lost. Poirot is wedded to the truth, wedded to the expression of himself in his punctilious attention to his personal appearance...up turned moustache and dark hair and all. He must tell a lie or have himself done in if someone in the murdering cabal of train travellers is to see justice done. It's nice to see a full set of famous actors in all the character roles....it gives just a hint that we should take them seriously...as might the operators of the Orient Express and their wealthiest patrons. However, this is not enough to compensate for the already compromised story which thus has to limp on ....and on...and on..through a weather induced derailment and the exposure of the murdering mastermind. It's too easy to fall asleep because there is no tension to keep your interest. I was thankful when this came to an abrupt and unsatisfactory end as I really had better things to do elsewhere.