If You Already Know The Ending, It Isn't As Good

Rating: 7/10 (9 November 2017)

As with any film centered around a mystery, there's a thrill in following the evidence, trying to figure out the whodunit and the how. If you go back to it afterward, you may find a new tidbit here or there, but the original thrill is gone.
Such is the case with the latest adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel.
This is a beautiful film to look at, as are many modern films, and it is fun to immerse into the period of the 1930s, especially the details of the crime (which revolve around a case that is based on the real- life murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby in 1932), and the mystique of the Orient Express, for as one character muses, how fascinating it is to see a group of people with nothing in common but the shared need to go from one place to another, forced together, never to see each other again.
The characters, too, are interesting portraits of the many types of personas familiar to the era, with the most stereotyped personified in director Kenneth Branagh's portrayal of detective Hercules Poirot. Like the critically acclaimed 1974 adaptation of Christie's novel, this film assembles an all-star cast to fill the roles of murder suspects, including Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Judy Dench, Josh Gad, Willem Dafoe, and more.
The film expertly weaves the tapestry of the crime and the many, many red herrings that are left by the murderer, as well as Poirot's attempts to establish a motive to explain the crime. At each turn he finds links, but something eludes him until the grand reveal at the end.
However, it's that grand reveal where the film can feel a bit lackluster, especially if one already knows how the story ends, for as best as I can tell, this film does not add an new twists or surprises to the original Christie story, and when the reveal finally happens, not only does it feel somewhat underwhelming because it seemed perfectly obvious all along, but the motivations is played without a sufficient amount of weight.
That's not to say that the reveal wouldn't be powerful to someone unfamiliar with the particulars of the story, but for someone who is, this film's replay value is essentially nil.
However, this film's brilliant performances and dry wit throughout makes this film enjoyable for anyone with a taste for mystery and wonderful theater, for this film feels more like a traditional play than a film, and it's the better for it.