Decent Updating of the Agatha Christie Masterpeace is Not Quite as Mysterious as the 1974 Version

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2017)

It's difficult to improve upon the original "Murder on the Orient Express" film of 1974. Some aspects are slightly improved while others suffer. I give Branagh some credit for engaging in this project while simultaneously it seemed that a remake which is not as good as the original may have been ill-conceived. The original 1974 film is, by far, the best murder mystery ever shot. Sort of like remaking "Star Wars IV: A Good Hope". What's the point? Given there are many great Agatha Christie books which have not yet had large-screen treatment (the David Suchet series was meant for television), it seems Branagh could have chosen another one. And there are other large screen productions which could be greatly improved upon, such as the Peter Ustinov "Death on the Nile".
A quick run down of the story. Hercule Poirot, vacationing in Istanbule, is called to take a case back in London. He is to board the Orient Express back to Western Europe. (The Orient Express is a luxury train which runs from Western Europe to the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. Today it can cost as much as $1000+ per day.) All expenses paid, he "runs into" several of the quirky characters which are also taking the train. He can't secure a first class compartment right away because the train is full and has to settle for a second class cabin with a roommate.
The train gets on its way, and Samuel Ratchett (Johnny Depp), a rather grumpy antiques dealer, asks for Poirot to take his case. He's been receiving death threats and desires Poirot to help him for $15,000, which would be a king's ransom in 1934, or about $275,000 in today's money. The next night, the train is moving through the snow-clad alps of Central Europe. Some strange things are happening near Poirot's compartment, such as someone who rings for the assistant conductor, and someone leaves another compartment, apparently a woman wearing a flowing dressing gown with a dragon emblazoned on the back.
The next day, Ratchett is found stabbed to death in his compartment. The son of the train owners, Bouc (Tom Bateman), pleads with Poirot to take the case to save the train from the disruption of a government investigation. At the same time, the train has hit an avalanche is unable to move forward. The Belgian sleuth reluctantly takes the case. Will he be able to solve the mystery before authorities arrive?
I'll start with the good. Kenneth Branagh, given he will be inevitably compared to Albert Finney and David Suchet, arguably the two best Hercule Poirot's of all-time, makes for a memorable Belgian detective (not French). His performance as everyone's favorite European continental sleuth is definitely better than the choice of Peter Ustinov, who came off like a cross between Poirot, Nero and Mussorgsky in two Agatha Christie films in the 1970's. Branagh more or less pulls it off. His is not a Poirot which will win him any acting trophies (Finney was nominated for both an Academy Award and a BFTA Award for Best Actor for the same part in 1974), but it's definitely not the worst. The cinematography is also exceptional when paired with CGI makes for some spectacular scenes of the Austrian/Swiss alps. Depp is fairly good as Ratchett, and Wilem Dafoe makes a good Gerhard Hardman.
The not so good. There was far more mystery in the original than in the present offering. The Daisy Armstrong case, loosely inspired by the Lindbergh Kidnapping case which was recent to the first edition of Christie's novel, was presented in the original with much more dynamic flair. Newsreel type footage shows the case at the beginning while in this offering, the case is revealed through what appear to be home movies.
Some scenes were a bit melodramatic. I love Michelle Pfeiffer, but here her Mrs. Hubbard is not quite as interesting as her counterpart from the 1970's, Lauren Becall. Pfeiffer's Hubbard becomes over-the-top melodramatic towards the end while Becall's becomes the opposite when things are revealed. Again, a difficult act to follow. Judi Dench as the Russian Princess Dragomiroff didn't have much screen time. In the original, played by Wendy Hiller, Hiller almost steals the show, and keeps up strive for strive with Albert Finney. Even Sean Connery's famous scene in the 1974 film where he, as Colonel Arbuthnot says "...are you suggesting that I'm fool enough to have entered Ratchett's cabin, murdered him, cleaned my 'peep', and dropped it into the ash tray on my way out?" Sadly this line was absent from this new production. Unfortunately, I found the final solution less captivating than the original of 1974.
Again, a decent one-watch, but it only made me long to see the original 1974 film. This film is good, make no mistake. But it didn't quite have the wit of the original. Strangely, this film was a bit humorless, save for an opening sequence (not in the book) where Poirot solves a crime in Instanbul. I found that sequence more compelling than a lot of other things in the rest of the film.