Member review

This film was based on Agatha Christie’s novel Murder On The Orient Express. Considering this film has some pretty a-list actors in it, and has a pretty solid sequel Death On The Nile I had high expectations at the start of the movie. Now as good as the excitement the setting of the train brought to the movie I have to admit that I was disappointed.

One of many reasons is: the plot, is solid but for a murder mystery you expect twists and turns and you don’t expect to know what’s going to happen, but in this movie all of those thing felt loosely done. I mean it still came as a surprise to who committed the crime but it felt understated. The next reason was character exposure, there were 12 suspects on the train and honestly I felt as if I couldn’t grasp who was who. Some characters weren’t given enough screen time, therefore when they arrived on the screen I felt a little short changed by the fact I thought “Who are you?”. My next and main point is deaths, overall throughout the movie there was one death and for a murder mystery movie I have a big issue with that. Deaths are supposed to be dramatic, potentially predictable but if so have an element of plot twist behind it and even several other deaths that follow. But the fact that only one death was present it added less drama that the film desperately needed to keep viewers entertained and engaged.

I did enjoy remembering the character of Poirot (played by Kenneth Branagh ) and seeing his detective skills, which even in this movie felt underplayed. And I’ll give it this, at the end it gave a clever link to the next film to come. But overall my views towards this movie are negative.