Had High Expectations...

Rating: 6/10 (16 February 2018)

Murder on the Orient Express had a great trailer, and it looked promising on paper, but with terrible execution and boring characters, Murder on the Orient Express is an average movie. I was expecting Murder on the Orient Express to be a hardcore murder mystery, and it falls short on that part too. I thought that the movie was going to be in the perspective of Hercule Poirot and it would share Hercule's thoughts throughout the movie, and in some parts it does do that, but at the same time it doesn't. I was so excited for this movie, because of the unique setting and the A-list actors, but this movie shows how a poor script can ruin a movie. I think the biggest flaw is the characters, the motives of the murder was just weak, in my opinion. The only character that does seem one bit interesting was Hercule Poirot.
Story: 7/10
The story is average at best. But the biggest issue was the execution, I think the execution is a very important part in a murder mystery, but this movie was just all over the place. The issue was that there was too much characters that the movie tried to make a subplot off of. Every passenger killed ratchett, and there was a lot of passengers in the movie. Every passenger had their own motive to kill ratchett, and all of their motives were connected into one thing. Each character had their own mini subplot, and honestly, there all weak. Murder on the Orient Express attempts to juggle all of these subplots briefly. If Murder on the Orient Express removes all of the weaker characters and focuses on the more important ones, than the movie could've had more time to explain the more important subplots. As I said before, I was expecting a hardcore murder mystery, and this movie really doesn't deliver it. I wanted to see Hercule find clue after clue throughout the movie, but he only really does that at the end. Overall, there's too much subplots that causes one dimensional characters that affects the story greatly.
Characters: 5/10
The characters are the biggest flaws. Due to the lack of recognition to the characters who committed the crime, the cause of the murder was weak. I wanted a strong motive behind the murder, but they did it because of something that Ratchett did in his past to another family. And I have to say, why kill Ratchett on a train, and why do it when there's the best detective in the world on it. They could've done it somewhere a little more logical. The twist at the end was pretty good and I wasn't expecting it, but I wasn't shocked, maybe it was the delivery of the confession that made it weak. The movie thinks it's clever by putting a twist so unique, but that's it's issue, as I said before, I wasn't shocked. The murder of Ratchett was done out of justice from the murderers. I thought the victim was the good guy and the murderer(s) were the bad guys, but it was the other way around, which was clever. I think evil motives are stronger than good motives in a murder mystery movie, and this movie slightly proves my point. Overall, all of the characters are one dimensional, except Hercule Poirot and the motives were on the weaker side.
Action: 7/10
The cinematography in Murder on the Orient Express was amazing, and I was surprised how cinematic it really was. I do have to give recognition to Kenneth Branagh for acting as a main character and directing as well. The movie is very slow, and it's almost hitting 2 hours long. The trailer made it look a bit more action packed, but there was only one chase scene. The visuals are very well done, using all sorts of styles, which makes the cinematography look even more better. I do have to mention that the movie could have been shorter. Some scenes just took too long, and it just makes the movie feel so much more boring. Overall, this movie proves that sometimes it doesn't matter how well a movie was filmed, basically it's style over substance.
Murder on the Orient Express tries to do too many things all at once. It focuses on a murder, but with too many characters and subplots, Murder on the Orient Express goes all over the place. If Murder on the Orient Express focused on one primary goal, then this movie could have been better. Murder on the Orient Express was already nailing it's own coffin when they decided that all the passengers committed the crime. And yes, it's based off the book, but it wouldn't hurt to cut some parts in the movie that were irrelevant. I recommend Murder on the Orient Express to the fans who read the book or watched the original, but not for people who want to have a good time and enjoy a movie.