Fine experience but it'll never beat Lumet's classic

Rating: 7/10 (13 September 2018)

Yet another clumsy remake of a powerful classic trying to emulate its steps, throw a big cast and big budget, make some improvements in order to cash
in and maybe entertain its new viewers or mostly the ones who can't stand "old films". To talk about this "Murder on the Orient Express" is kind of more of
the same specially to those who watched Sidney Lumet's brilliant psychological study starring Albert Finney as famous detective Hercule Poirot. Most folks
had seen that movie, gave it a shot to this one and thought "well, there's something missing here" or "it's not good enough". Lead actor and director
Kenneth Branagh had one thing in his favor while making it: speed. The story flows more like an adventure flick in some parts, with some great exterior shots
at times ruined by weak special effects while Lumet's film was more like a play where you could catch every nuance of each actor and each character the more
the classic story progressed - and to resume for those who haven't seen it, Poirot investigates the murder of a mysterious man on board of the Orient Express
while the train is stuck in the snow, interrogating all of the passengers, important figures or people of little relevance.

I'm not a detractor of Branagh's film, in fact, I had my share of good time with it and find it very stylish, impecable costumes and art-direction, and
in times where plot twists are common place for the same type of project, to bring back a little bit of class and long dialogues is something that it's worth
seeing. The cast doesn't disappoint despite not having one prominent performance in it - and that's why the 1974 film was the better one. Branagh is a fine Poirot
but far too eccentric (and I'm comparing it with the books written by Agatha Christie, who presents him as a man of rituals and manners but Branagh makes him look
like a Phineas Fogg, evidenced in his opening scene with the eggs); Johnny Depp, PenÃ©lope Cruz, Judi Dench, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Derek Jacobi,
Josh Gad (finally breaking from his usual annoyance) are all good but no stand-outs here - maybe Dafoe grabbed my attention the most.

However, I've found it an exhausting experience not just because I already knew what was going to happen but mostly the rush in presenting some things
and slowing down anothers - the ending felt like a disappointment if compared back (sorry for the repetition) with the other film - of which I wasn't much of a fan
during my first viewm neither the book (that chase sequence between Poirot and MacQueen was dumb). Lumet's "canon" version never loses momentum despite the play aspects of it, you're intrigued through it all while Branagh reserves some
thrills here and there and then it becomes a snooze fest halfway through. It's like much ado about almost nothing (no pun intended with Kenneth's previous film), I
haven't felt it was a necessary film or one based of Agatha's novel that was needed to be remade - she has several great mystery books that weren't made into a film
or just became TV projects, I'd like to see a version of "After the Funeral". Good news is that the movie's apparent success excited Branagh enough to the point of already announce that "Death on the Nile" will come and perhaps new audiences will be interested in following the footsteps of the incredible Hercule Poirot. Challenge is: that one was already made in 1978, also an Oscar winning film and with a stellar cast; difference: as of now, I still haven't seen it. We'll see.

Conclusion: "Murder on the Orient Express" is fine, entertains but it's far from being on the level of quality and memorable works where a gathering of movie stars makes you feel impressed or overjoyed with the experience. 7/10