Review of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) by Steven V — 08 Nov 2017

Murder on the Orient Express is a very enjoyable and pleasant experience, even with its fatal flaws.

Kenneth Branagh shines as the star and director. He simultaneously portrays Hercule Poirot, an amazing character you empathize with, and gives Agathe Christie's tale the cinematic treatment in an engaging way with style (having not read the novel). The cinematography, production and costume design, and music is also very good.

While the ensemble supporting cast does very well with the very little they've been given (Michelle Pfeifer and Josh Gad being the stand-outs), the film could have benefited from adding an extra 15 minutes to flesh them out, to make the film's big reveal more effective, even if the ending was already emotional. Also, the film suffers from its inability to "show, don't tell", especially from a mystery. You aren't able to solve the mystery with Poirot, as the film instead uses flashbacks and exposition scenes.

Murder on the Orient Express is a solid mystery that could've been much greater, but still a very pleasant and entertaining time.