A surprising success

Rating: 7/10 (11 November 2017)

The film "Murder on the Orient Express" has been remade many times; the same story; the same setting; the same suspects, and this new installation in the 'remakes' of this film features an amazing lineup of cast members including Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh and Johnny Depp. The film was directed by Kenneth Branagh himself, who also stars as the world-renowned detective Hercule Poirot, and was written by Michael Green who released three majorly successful films this year alone, in "Blade Runner: 2049", "Logan", and "Alien Covenant".
The film follows "the best detective in the world", Hercule Poirot, who must solve a sudden murder on the famous train, the orient express, with a wide range of suspects, motives and means. Kenneth Branagh gives his performance of Hercule Poirot, an intelligent (seemingly) OCD detective who separates right from wrong and serves justice to those via his deductive reasoning and "little grey cells", which is fantastic despite the shrub growing off his face (which eventually passes as unnoticeable). In fact, "The Murder on the Orient Express" emits spectacular performances from all cast members, who all manage to extract perfectly dramatic and interesting performances at appropriate times - particularly Josh Gad, who also starred as Olaf in "Frozen", who gave a great performance as Hector MacQueen. The script employs few physical action scenes, some of which are poorly choreographed or illogical, but supplies ample psychological action which is dramatic, bold and exciting. Set in a winter wonderland, the atmosphere is sufficient for this perfect crime which will entangle minds, including the great Hercule Poirot himself. The film is a great Agatha Christie adaptation which will suit audiences of all ages and preferences, and will not disappoint, despite trailer expectations.