A decent mysterious film

Rating: 7/10 (7 November 2017)

After seeing the trailer for this film I actually had some anticipation for this film and after seeing it I enjoyed it. The premise of the film sees a group of people being investigated on a train after a mysterious murder. Kenneth branagh plays famous detective hercule poirot and he is fantastic in this film. He nails the accent and it is so entertaining watching this charismatic performance from him. He also nailed the brilliance of the character and made his discoveries seem pretty genuine. There is a huge supporting cast in this film so I will just talk about the main ones, daisy ridley plays a governess in the film and she is really good. Sometimes she is a little wooden but she delivers a charming character with some interesting features about her. Johnny Depp plays an American gangster in the film and he does a good job, he isn't his usual cartoony self here and I liked him in this more serious role. Something similar could be said about josh gadd who is really developing into a great all round actor. Michelle pfiefer is in this film and she delivers a good charming performance that makes her an interesting character in the film. Willem Dafoe and judi Dench also do good jobs in there smaller roles. The story is interesting as you are following the breadcrumbs with branagh as he attempts to solve this mystery. However, this film is the definition of the journey being better then the finish line as I wasn't a big fan of the end reveal in the film. It just felt cheap and the easy way out that didn't really give me a sense of satisfaction. The script has some decent humour and drama in it, but it also has some over the top dialogue that took me out of the moment, also this film is guilty of exposition dialogue on a few different occasions. The style of the film is very lavish, which works and seeing the different interrogations made this film feel interesting if a bit repetitive. It felt like a very linear by the numbers film which does overall hurt the film. Overall I enjoyed this film but it isn't a truly memorable experience.