Review of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) by Chris Z — 14 Nov 2017

Chris' Movie Review.

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Murder On The Orient Express.

Rating: 6/10 (Fine).

Recommendation: Redbox It.

I really wanted to see this film since I saw the trailers. Now that I have, I think I ruined by hyping it up for myself.

Murder On The Orient Express stars Kenneth Branagh (Hercule), Penelope Cruz (Pilar), Daisy Ridley (Mary), Michelle Pfeiffer (Mrs. Hubbard), and Johnny Depp (Ratchett).

Plot Summary.

Hercule is the world's greatest detective. He lives by the code of always telling the truth and finding out who did it no matter what.

After solving a case, he heads out onto a train. During the trip, a murder takes place and decides to take up the case to find out who murdered Ratchett.

Review.

Murder On The Orient Express is one of those movies that oozes brilliance by concept but has a hard time fully fulfilling every aspect that's desired from the audience. And if that sounds like mumble jumble, let me explain.

For starters, the actors are fantastic. Kenneth really steals the show as the main lead. He is the glue to every aspect of the film and he brings a performance that is able to capture all the quirks and details of his character.

On the other side of the board, with the side characters, everyone does a fantastic job. When you have a "Star studded" cast, you need to be able to pull out the best of each and everyone to justify the signing of each actor. And the director was able to do that well. But the issue comes when the mystery starts.

The biggest flaw of this movie is how much screen time certain characters get and how well the information is distributed. Some characters get a ton of screen time and others sort of just get left in the dust. After awhile, you just start to forget their names and remember them by appearance because they're either the screen too briefly or the interactions are just cliche throw off attempts to make you think a certain person is the killer but when in reality, they're not.

Apart of this attributes to screen time in the beginning. There is about 20 minutes wasted showing off how great of a detective Heecule is. Which, yes, it's setting up his character but it cuts short everyone else by a mile. The beginning should've really been cut down to 5-10 minutes at most. Everything in the beginning could've been shown in much less time.

Another hit is some of the interactions didn't seem to really make a huge difference in the final findings of the film. For instance, there's a scene where Kenneth and Johnny Depp are talking that takes up about 5 minutes and it didn't really seem to go anywhere. Yes, a few clues come from it but not enough where it really mattered in the end. And this sort of feels like it happens a few too many times throughout the movie. (Or maybe I just missed something entirely. That's very much possible.).

Lastly, the ending feels sort of underwhelming. Once you figure out what happened, it just sort of leaves an empty feeling. Maybe it's due to how the film is paced and how certain characters don't really add up to much but it's just not a satisfying feeling when you get through viewing it.

Overall.

Murder On The Orient Express is one of those movies that falls victim to having too many characters and not enough time to space them out. It has really solid moments but the mystery leaves a lot to be desired.

There are too many characters. Some of the interactions are really good and most aren't. And the ending just doesn't feel satisfying. But the visuals are interesting. The camera work is intriguing. And the acting, especially Kenneth, is really good.

Maybe you'll have a better time with this film than I but I think a movie that does a lot of this better is Clue. Sure, it's quirky, but it's a ton of fun and you'll enjoy yourself a lot more throughout it.

As usual, thanks for reading!