Death on the Nile is the second Hercule Poirot film to be directed by and star Sir Kenneth Branagh (the first was Murder on the Orient Express back in 2017) and this time Poirot is in Egypt enjoying a holiday when he was tasked with investigating the murder of a wealthy woman (Gal Gadot) who has recently married her fiancé Simon (Armie Hammer) but as always with a murder to solve there are many suspects each with their own alleby’s and possible motives.
Death on the Nile I think is a better film than Orient Express was and a lot of that comes down to firstly having a more luxurious location to explore in Egypt and the Nile River than just the snowy mountains and the Orient Express train and also the mystery itself is a better one than the Orient Express film and it allows to get to know Branagh’s take on Poirot more than we did in the previous film.
Now Branagh’s take on Poirot is not a patch on Sir David Suchet who was the definitive Hercule Poirot but he is still a good watch in this role and I enjoyed watching him more than I felt the broader ensemble cast, as for Branagh’s direction its okay and he definitely wants to take his time in laying the tracks for this mystery to unfold as well as show off the Egyptian locales and develop his ensemble cast before the killings begin plus there is a very nice Black and White filmed prologue that felt like a bit of a dry run for his current Oscar competitor Belfast.
As for that ensemble cast they are okay, Gadot and Hammer play off each other fine enough but they don’t have a lot of romantic chemistry as a couple, Letitia Wright and Sophie Okonedo were good in their roles, I really liked Emma Mackey as the spurned lover and hope to see more of her in future movies while I always enjoy seeing Annette Bening in any role she does.
The main highlights of the broader cast however are Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders who make a great pair and generated a good amount of laughs from me while Russell Brand was actually pretty good in this movie and he is someone I’ve never really been a big fan of over the years.
And so that was Death on the Nile and its enjoyable enough to make for a watch if you get the chance, 3 out of 5.
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