A great large cast that worked with the characters. The mystery film is slow and boring that makes hard for it to improve throughout.

Rating: 6/10 (22 November 2017)

Watching Murder on the Orient Express is like playing a game of clue. Trying to solve the murder mystery with several suspects that may or may not have a motive. However, the film is less fun than playing. Murder on the Orient Express draws some great performances. Especially, the best detective in the world Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh). Who is great at solving mystery crimes from the tiniest details that every one would miss. He happens to be on the same express train with several other people that played by an ensemble of talented actors like Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley. When there is a murderer at large, Poirot will have to follow every single clues and theories to who is the suspect. And how every one in train compartment has a connection of some kind?
The direction, tone, and set are fun and visually impressive to look at. With the train being stuck on the snowy mountains and blocked by an avalanche. The performances were also great. Kenneth Branagh did great as the character and tried making it a lot of fun to see him on screen with his compulsiveness and awkward personality. Sure, they can continue with multiple films with the character in different mystery stories.
The few problems I have the film is. It can be very slow in the middle of the second act. So slow, it can be boring at times and you can easily lose interest on were the story is going next. It has its uneven pacing that could have had better editing and maybe trim down a few overlong scenes. Also, the climax with the mystery and twist revealing itself and playing back a few scenes to recap on how everything was done didn't feel like much of a surprise. It just did not have the exciting build up to even care for what was going on.
Overall, Murder on the Orient Express is a fair mystery drama film. A great cast ensemble. A spot on direction and tone for its mystery feel. It was a little longer than it should have been and the slow pacing did not help build the excitement at all.
I rate the film 3 out of 5 stars.