Murder on the Orient Express

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2017)

This is one of the most recognised of all the novels by Agatha Christie, the 1974 Sidney Lumet / Albert Finney film is the most memorable of the adaptations, there has also been the TV movie with Alfred Molina, and TV's Poirot with David Suchet, this was the latest adaptation, directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Hamlet, Thor). Basically in the winter of 1934, famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Sir Kenneth Branagh) looks forward to taking a break from his work, after solving a a theft in Jerusalem, he is travelling to Istanbul, aboard the Orient Express. Other passengers travelling on the train are: talkative American socialite Caroline Hubbard (Michelle Pfeiffer); unpleasant American businessman Samuel Ratchett (Johnny Depp), his American secretary Hector MacQueen (Frozen's Josh Gad) and his English valet Edward Henry Masterman (Sir Derek Jacobi), elderly Russian Princess Natalia Dragomiroff (Dame Judi Dench) and her German maid Fräulein Hildegarde Schmidt (Olivia Colman); Hungarian diplomat Count Rudolph Andrenyi (Sergei Polunin) and his wife Helena (Lucy Boynton); former military sniper Dr. John Arbuthnot (Leslie Odom Jr.); governess Mary Debenham (Star Wars' Daisy Ridley); Spanish missionary Pilar Estravados (Penélope Cruz); Cuban businessman Biniamino Marquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo); and Austrian scholar Gerhard Hardman (Willem Dafoe). The morning after the train's departure, Ratchett tells Poriot he has received many death threats, he tries to secure the detective's services for a high sum, but Poirot knows of Ratchett's criminal reputation and refuses. That night the train is caught in an avalanche, the train is derailed and the passengers are stranded, besides this, Poirot is disturbed numerous times during the night by strange noises, and characters passing his cabin. The next morning, Ratchett is found stabbed to death in his cabin, next door to Poirot, the detective and his friend Bouc (Tom Bateman), director of the Orient Express, work together to solve the case. The body examination reveals Ratchett was stabbed 12 times, some wounds were slight, but at least three could have resulted in death, Poirot recalls the noises, it is indicated the murder was around 1:15am. The train is held up by the deep snow and the train on a high bridge, so the murderer is still among the passengers, and a number of clues could pinpoint to the suspect, including a broken pocket watch, a pipe-cleaner, a woman's handkerchief with the initial "H" and a fragment of a burned letter. Examining the letter, Poirot discovers that Ratchett was in fact Mafia gangster Cassetti, five years ago he carried out the kidnapping and killing of infant Daisy Armstrong, daughter of wealthy British Army Colonel Hamish Armstrong, overcome with grief, the pregnant Mrs. Armstrong went into labour early and died while giving birth to a stillborn baby, a French maidservant named Paulette committed suicide, and Colonel Armstrong consumed by these tragedies killed himself as well, and Casetti fled the country with the ransom, betraying his partner, leaving him to be executed. Poirot, Constantine and Bouc begin their interrogation of the passengers, with Poirot questioning them all one by one about the night of the murder, each passenger have a motive to kill Ratchett, so any could be the murderer. After concluding his investigation, Poirot gathers all the suspects outside in the train tunnel to present his solution, he has formulated two possible scenarios to explain the murder. The first is the simple solution, based on several clues suggesting that Cassetti's murder was the result of a mafia feud. Poirot then explains his second and much more complex solution, where every suspect has a link to the Armstrong case, and has sufficient motive for the murder. After explaining each of the suspects' reasons to kill, a flashback reveals that Ratchett was sedated, the pipe- cleaner and handkerchief (a Cyrillic "N" resembles a Roman "H") were planted, incidents which disturbed Poirot's sleep were contrived to confuse him, each of the passengers then stabbed Cassetti in turn, in an act of justice. When Poirot finishes his explanation, everyone is silent, the detective challenges the passengers to shoot him, placing a gun in front of all suspects, they all know he can expose their plot, as the one who orchestrated everything, Mrs. Hubbard grabs the gun, but instead tries to take her own life, but the gun is unloaded, Poirot wished to see how the suspects would react. During this time, the rescue crew have placed the train back on the tracks and cleared the snow, Poirot concludes that there is no justice to be found in the case, and Ratchett deserved his fate, he states that for the first time he will have to live with imbalance. In the end, Poirot tells Yugoslavian police it was a lone killer, allowing all suspects to leave, he leaves the train at the next station, there he is approached by a messenger, informed about a death on the Nile, he has been asked to investigate, Poriot accepts the case and taken by car. Branagh has the most brilliantly ridiculous huge moustache and is good as the insightful detective, the supporting cast of famous faces all do their parts well also, there are not too many big changes to murder setup and conclusion, obviously there are necessary tweaks to add more scale, with the odd pacy moment and action out of the train into the white wilderness, including the traditional "gathering" scene, it just about keeps you guessing, and its period detail and alternative style are fine, it is a wonderfully performed and interesting murder mystery. Very good!