Tries To Solve Murder Mystery Blandness But Fails In The Attempt

Rating: 4/10 (11 November 2017)

Coming into "Murder On The Orient Express", the main thing I was worried about was that the film would focus so much on the "whodunnit" that it would fail to consider "why do we care". That is a typical problem I find with hard-boiled mystery capers. Funny enough, "Murder" tries to improve in this very area, but ends up completely striking out in a rather muddled mess of names, faces, and half-baked plots.
For a basic plot summary, this film sees famous detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) on a train heading towards his next case. He's hoping to catch some much-needed r-and-r, but when Edward Ratchett (Johnny Depp) is murdered en route, his deductive reasoning and sleuthing is tested as never before. One by one, he questions all the other train passengers, played by an eclectic "who's who" of Hollywood including Daisey Ridley, Penelope Cruz, Josh Gad, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, & Willem Dafoe (among others).
The reason I'll give "Murder" even four stars is because, in all honesty, it does try to subvert its genre a bit by adding in a human element. This is where the spoilers come in, but all the passengers are found to have a connection to the murdered Ratchett. In the end, Poirot must make a moral choice that previously he's never had to make: does he let a crime go because it was "deserved", or is it his solemn duty to prosecute to the full extent of the law.
This is actually an interesting twist on the "whodunnit" mystery, and could have been used to great effect. The problem? The "connection" that all the passengers share just isn't compelling enough to make an audience really care about them. Part of the issue is that instead of really setting up that angle in the early goings, we get 20 minutes of Poirot kind of just clowning around...totally pointless and a waste of time that could have really been used to flesh out the history of the crime that is later examined in detail.
As it is, however, the emotional reason we are supposed to care about these passengers is only given through snippets of dialogue, very short flashbacks, and so many names (in such a short period) that I was often confused by who was who. Not conducive at all, obviously, to what director Branagh was trying to accomplish.
Overall, then, "Murder on the Orient Express" tried to be something bigger than it is billed, and while I appreciate that effort, it just doesn't work. Unless you have a soft spot for this literary tale or character (Poirot), or are an enormous fan of whodunnit murder mysteries, there's a good chance you'll be disappointed when the credits roll.