Review of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) by Shpostal — 10 Nov 2017

Yet another remake of an already classic movie and Agatha Christie murder mystery, the new version of "Murder On The Orient Express" is actually not bad, if it isn't terribly original or mind blowing.

But hey, it is a "whodunit", and without the usual ultra violent gore that goes into most movies involving murderers and gangster types. That makes it kinda fun if you're not familiar with the original film and book, which I was not.

Director Kenneth Branagh also stars as the irrepressible detective Hercule Poirot, very self assured without being cocky, intelligent and very polite. I can't help but notice that people overall at least in this country are getting more and more selfish and rude in public - I doubt people younger than 45 or so even know what good manners even are.

So we get this gentleman on board the famous Orient Express bound from Istanbul to Calais, France and then by ferry to merry old England. The scenery is breathtaking, and I hope it was shot on location, because I would be disappointed to see computer imagery taking over everything.

The cast includes Johnny Depp, the nasty bad guy, Michelle Pfieffer and Judy Dench among others all in the confines of a train that is halted due to an avalanche that derails the locomotive and forces them to wait for crews to come out to their location and dig them out.

It's during this wait that the mystery unfolds, Poirot assuming charge to find out who murdered one of the other characters and put all the pieces of an interesting puzzle together. Branagh is the true star of the show, his two layered mustache twitching along as he interviews suspects and tries to solve the crime.

It is refreshing to see an old style mystery that is focused much more on characters, motives and a much more cerebral approach instead of the normal crime movies we see nowadays, even if it's a re-make.

"Murder On The Orient Express" is not a cinematic masterpiece, nor does it get too heavy handed for its own good. Rather, it's a plot that is entertaining to follow and try to figure out, and a movie not hard to enjoy but still having a certain amount of class and spectacular scenery I assume are the Alps or the Balkans.

It's a nice way to spend a couple hours on an old tried and true formula that works because of the cast and a careful script.