Review of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) by Kenr — 17 Sep 2018

Style, style, style, sumptuous style and then some! Sets, trains-fabulous trains, costumes, performers, cinematography, music, what more could you ask? Well, maybe a more focused, and involving script with direction that knew what direction it wanted to take.

Here’s a good story that’s maybe been reinvented one time too many. This glossy remake tries to be everything to everyone and that’s been proven impossible many times over – it’s a murder mystery, comedy, drama, romance, spectacle, that only just manages to be a little of them all.

Kenneth Branagh, shows off as director and star (Hercule Poirot) and his big (but underused) international cast probably had more fun than some audiences might - except those who don’t expect a great deal from an over baked multimillion-dollar production.

The trailer too looked impressive, but also sowed the seeds of apprehension about over promise. Maybe I expected too much but, it seems from an assortment of reviews, others also felt a little caught out - and to think, already, they are planning to remake more in this series.

The end result is handsome looking foolishness - if that’s all you want, then you may not mind. Heavy use of CGI offers several eye-popping visual treats and it features a fairly good song over the end titles – sung, quite surprisingly well by Michelle Pfeiffer but, not a great deal else.