Death on the Nile
Death on the Nile
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Emma Mackey
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Starring Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Emma Mackey
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Agatha Christie was one of the most prolific, intelligent, and memorable authors of all time, whose classic works have been idolized, praised, and turned into more than one major blockbuster film. She, along with the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, gave birth to one of the most memorable detectives in literature history: Hercule Poirot, who's trademark handlebar mustache and obsessive compulsive disorder have made him a household name for decades. 2017's "Murder on the Orient Express" was the first (and most famous) Christie novel about the Detective that acclaimed director/actor Kenneth Branagh adapted to the big screen, as he himself also played Poirot in the film. The movie was a massive success and almost immediately Christie's other popular Poirot novel, "Death on the Nile,"was green-lit. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic, that film was shelved from 2019 to 2022, but finally audiences get to see Poirot in action once again, this time investigating a murder on the ship Karnak that's floating down the Nile River.
While on vacation in Egypt, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is invited by Linnet Ridgeway-Doyle (Gal Gadot) aboard the Karnak to celebrate her wedding to Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer), but she has more ulterior motives for bringing Poirot aboard other than drinking and merriment. She's worried about Simon's former flame, Jacqueline "Jackie" de Bellefort (Emma Mackey), who's been stalking the recently wedded couple as the celebrated their nuptials. When a murder is committed on the ship, Jackie's stalking is just the tip of the iceberg, as everyone who was invited on board had motive for murder, and once again it's up to Poirot to piece together the evidence before more bodies begin to pile up.
What makes Agatha Christie's novels so intriguing is the intricate way she pieces together the crime, and the rogues-gallery of suspects who each have ulterior motives for murder. While it could become redundant (both "Death" and "Orient" have the same final scene with Poirot gathering all the suspects in a room as he slowly deduces his findings), it's nevertheless exciting and thrilling to see how even the most minute of details can reveal the killer's true identity.
Think of it as the precursor to the classic card game Mafia. In that game, there is a killer, a doctor, a cop, and ordinary citizens based off what card you receive, and the killer (or killers) must methodically kill the other people before they're found out by the cop, or their victims are healed by the nurse. After every round, a vote is held on who everyone thinks the killer is, and whoever gets the most votes is killed off - and if it's the killer, then the townspeople win. If the killer lasts to the final two, then they automatically win. "Death on the Nile," and many of Christie's other work, parallels this game in several ways. Here, the killer targets someone who is both outwardly beloved by everyone but secretly hated by everyone as well, opening the door wide for wild accusations and unfounded claims to be made by those left. Only Poirot - the fabled "cop" in this game - can really be trusted, and he uses his unorthodox ways of sleuthing to find the real culprit.
"Death on the Nile" asks the audience to be patient with the story unfolding, as the first half of the film is rather dry and dull, as all the players are introduced. Yet, despite a large ensemble cast, most of them get tossed to the wayside and given nothing more to do than to act out their stereotypical archetypes. The jilted ex-lover. The ever-dutiful assistant who wants the finer things in life. The swarmy lawyer. Many characters aren't given a lot to do, but those that do actually pull off decent performances, for the most part. If this film was released back in 2019 when it was supposed to, it might've even done better than now, with two actors in particular who've...let's just say...haven't aged well since the pandemic.
Kenneth Branagh once again dons the mustache (and we get to find out how he got it) as Hercule Poirot, and once again he seems to be having the time of his life playing the iconic detective. He's had a busy few years, having directed both this and his pseudo-autobiographical mult-Oscar nominated film "Belfast," and yet he doesn't skimp on either one, but each film receives his full, undivided attention. Tom Bateman also returns as Poirot's friend Bouc, who's joined by his mother, Euphemia, played with calloused brilliance by Annette Bening.
Apart from Poirot, Bouc, and Euphemia, the other standout performances come from Emma Mackey's Jackie de Bellefort, Sophie Okonedo's Salome Otterbourne, and Letita Wright's Rosalie Otterbourne. Emma plays Jackie with an intense jealousy as she hates Linnet (who used to be her best friend) for stealing Simon away from her, and she plays the jilted ex-lover with pure delight. Okonedo's Salome is a blues singer who provides the best one-liners and quips in the entire film, and, along with Branagh, seems to be having the best time. Letita Wright - who's been receiving negative press lately for her strong stance on not getting vaccinated, plays Salome's niece and business manager Rosalie with an intelligence and dignity that's admirable, and if only this came out before all the scrutiny happened, Wright might've garnered more praise for her performance.
Unfortunately, the other two leads - Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer - don't really pull off great performances. There is absolutely no chemistry between the two, and their acting feels very forced and contrived when they're together. There's also all the negative press Hammer has received lately - including accusations by a number of women claiming sexual assault - that've put a darker light on this film in the interim. Gadot does very well when she doesn't have to act in love with Hammer's Simon, but those moments were way too few and far between.
Proving that he's having as much fun behind the camera as well as in front, Branagh does indeed give the film a unique, classic feel having shooting it in 65mm filmstock. The film takes place in the 1930s, and you feel transported to that time with not just the film style itself, but the fashion and set designs as well (at least on the ship, but when they embark on Egyptian adventures it does seem to point more to a CGI-video-game style mess). Gadot's entrance in particular is a thing of stunning beauty, or it could just be her - or a combination of the two.
While the "Orient Express" was mocked for being almost too literal to the novel, "Death on the Nile" took great liberties to add and change things from Christie's novel so as to not confuse the audience. Several characters in the book were conglomerated into one, the backstory of Poirot's time in the military, and other moments were added for the film to give it more substance, and they pull it off almost too well (the opening sequence of Poirot on the front lines at No Man's Land made me want to know more about that story and not what I was about to watch). While the bones of the story stayed the same, the liberties taken surprisingly didn't really detract from the final conclusion, and ends just as how you'd expect it to. While I had the killer (or killers?) pegged early on, it was fun watching how the truth came out, much like the enjoyment I had with "Orient Express." Is it a perfect film? No. Yet it's still a fun, intriguing ride that heralds back to the classics of the mystery novel genre.
While it's pretty much the same story as "Orient Express" but on a boat, "Death on the Nile" is still a fun, mysterious thrill ride that sparks the classic whodunit features that aren't really seen on the big screen nowadays.
The Score: A-
While on vacation in Egypt, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is invited by Linnet Ridgeway-Doyle (Gal Gadot) aboard the Karnak to celebrate her wedding to Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer), but she has more ulterior motives for bringing Poirot aboard other than drinking and merriment. She's worried about Simon's former flame, Jacqueline "Jackie" de Bellefort (Emma Mackey), who's been stalking the recently wedded couple as the celebrated their nuptials. When a murder is committed on the ship, Jackie's stalking is just the tip of the iceberg, as everyone who was invited on board had motive for murder, and once again it's up to Poirot to piece together the evidence before more bodies begin to pile up.
What makes Agatha Christie's novels so intriguing is the intricate way she pieces together the crime, and the rogues-gallery of suspects who each have ulterior motives for murder. While it could become redundant (both "Death" and "Orient" have the same final scene with Poirot gathering all the suspects in a room as he slowly deduces his findings), it's nevertheless exciting and thrilling to see how even the most minute of details can reveal the killer's true identity.
Think of it as the precursor to the classic card game Mafia. In that game, there is a killer, a doctor, a cop, and ordinary citizens based off what card you receive, and the killer (or killers) must methodically kill the other people before they're found out by the cop, or their victims are healed by the nurse. After every round, a vote is held on who everyone thinks the killer is, and whoever gets the most votes is killed off - and if it's the killer, then the townspeople win. If the killer lasts to the final two, then they automatically win. "Death on the Nile," and many of Christie's other work, parallels this game in several ways. Here, the killer targets someone who is both outwardly beloved by everyone but secretly hated by everyone as well, opening the door wide for wild accusations and unfounded claims to be made by those left. Only Poirot - the fabled "cop" in this game - can really be trusted, and he uses his unorthodox ways of sleuthing to find the real culprit.
"Death on the Nile" asks the audience to be patient with the story unfolding, as the first half of the film is rather dry and dull, as all the players are introduced. Yet, despite a large ensemble cast, most of them get tossed to the wayside and given nothing more to do than to act out their stereotypical archetypes. The jilted ex-lover. The ever-dutiful assistant who wants the finer things in life. The swarmy lawyer. Many characters aren't given a lot to do, but those that do actually pull off decent performances, for the most part. If this film was released back in 2019 when it was supposed to, it might've even done better than now, with two actors in particular who've...let's just say...haven't aged well since the pandemic.
Kenneth Branagh once again dons the mustache (and we get to find out how he got it) as Hercule Poirot, and once again he seems to be having the time of his life playing the iconic detective. He's had a busy few years, having directed both this and his pseudo-autobiographical mult-Oscar nominated film "Belfast," and yet he doesn't skimp on either one, but each film receives his full, undivided attention. Tom Bateman also returns as Poirot's friend Bouc, who's joined by his mother, Euphemia, played with calloused brilliance by Annette Bening.
Apart from Poirot, Bouc, and Euphemia, the other standout performances come from Emma Mackey's Jackie de Bellefort, Sophie Okonedo's Salome Otterbourne, and Letita Wright's Rosalie Otterbourne. Emma plays Jackie with an intense jealousy as she hates Linnet (who used to be her best friend) for stealing Simon away from her, and she plays the jilted ex-lover with pure delight. Okonedo's Salome is a blues singer who provides the best one-liners and quips in the entire film, and, along with Branagh, seems to be having the best time. Letita Wright - who's been receiving negative press lately for her strong stance on not getting vaccinated, plays Salome's niece and business manager Rosalie with an intelligence and dignity that's admirable, and if only this came out before all the scrutiny happened, Wright might've garnered more praise for her performance.
Unfortunately, the other two leads - Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer - don't really pull off great performances. There is absolutely no chemistry between the two, and their acting feels very forced and contrived when they're together. There's also all the negative press Hammer has received lately - including accusations by a number of women claiming sexual assault - that've put a darker light on this film in the interim. Gadot does very well when she doesn't have to act in love with Hammer's Simon, but those moments were way too few and far between.
Proving that he's having as much fun behind the camera as well as in front, Branagh does indeed give the film a unique, classic feel having shooting it in 65mm filmstock. The film takes place in the 1930s, and you feel transported to that time with not just the film style itself, but the fashion and set designs as well (at least on the ship, but when they embark on Egyptian adventures it does seem to point more to a CGI-video-game style mess). Gadot's entrance in particular is a thing of stunning beauty, or it could just be her - or a combination of the two.
While the "Orient Express" was mocked for being almost too literal to the novel, "Death on the Nile" took great liberties to add and change things from Christie's novel so as to not confuse the audience. Several characters in the book were conglomerated into one, the backstory of Poirot's time in the military, and other moments were added for the film to give it more substance, and they pull it off almost too well (the opening sequence of Poirot on the front lines at No Man's Land made me want to know more about that story and not what I was about to watch). While the bones of the story stayed the same, the liberties taken surprisingly didn't really detract from the final conclusion, and ends just as how you'd expect it to. While I had the killer (or killers?) pegged early on, it was fun watching how the truth came out, much like the enjoyment I had with "Orient Express." Is it a perfect film? No. Yet it's still a fun, intriguing ride that heralds back to the classics of the mystery novel genre.
While it's pretty much the same story as "Orient Express" but on a boat, "Death on the Nile" is still a fun, mysterious thrill ride that sparks the classic whodunit features that aren't really seen on the big screen nowadays.
The Score: A-
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