REVIEW: Death On The Nile Is A Decent Who Done It? For All
Detective, Hercule Poirot is back for another mystery in 20th Century Studios’ Death On The Nile. Once again, directed by Kenneth Branagh, and based on the novel by Agatha Christie, the film finds Poirot (Branagh) in London, enjoying a break from the case life. There he happens upon Linnet Ridgeway-Doyle (Gal Gadot) meeting her good friend, Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey) and her fiancé, Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer) celebrating their engagement. As Poirot enjoys his evening out, he does not yet realize that in the very near future, this happy looking engagement would be getting quite the shakeup in the way of murder.
As always, Branagh has an amazing knack for bringing such creativity and beauty to Christie’s novels. Death On The Nile is visually stunning and his ability to keep viewers in their seats as he navigates this winding river is outstanding. Even though the film has its predictable moments, it’s the smaller details that Branagh focuses on that make the film unpredictable. Whether it’s Poirot’s intense interrogation of the passengers or Branagh’s care for detail when it comes to revealing the evidence, Branagh makes sure that the audience is as focused as Poirot by utilizing sweeping camera movement and perfectly scored music.
However, if there is one negative to call out about the film, it is the length. The film spends far too long getting to the actual mystery afoot. There are so many precious moments that could have been used to focus on the murder but were wasted to instead build the foundation for the ensemble characters. One must wonder if this was done purposely, because of the events surrounding one of its stars, Armie Hammer, but we might not ever know. Whatever the reason may be, the time at the beginning would of better been spent focusing on the murder instead of the ensemble.
It’s hard to watch Hammer as the loved up Simon Doyle, but as the film progresses further on its journey, the less it tends to focus on him. Sophie Okonedo as jazz singer Salome Otterbourne is one of the outstanding pieces of this film. She shares quite an intense scene, and chemistry, with Branagh that truly showcases her talent as an actor. Letitia Wright plays the logical and smart, Rosalie, and besides a few noticeable slipups of her Southern accent, Wright once again is a joy to watch on screen.
The other spotlight of the film was Russell Brand as Windlesham. His performance wasn’t the best, but I didn’t realize who was playing the character until I looked it up after the film. Gadot, Annette Bening, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, and Jennifer Saunders round out the cast, but do not come close to their already mentioned cast mates.
Death On The Nile is a good “Who Done It?” mystery that once again reminds me of a good game of clue. The film is not overly complicated to follow, and the acting is a joy to watch. However, is it a film to see in theaters. That’s a tossup for me.
Grade: B+