Murder on the Orient Express (’17 review)

4 outta 5

Murder on the Orient Express is a big throwback to big stars in a big movie with lots of big acting and big twists and big monologues.   Directed and starring Kenneth Branagh, it has the pace of many of his movies as it opens strong, gets pretty chatty in the middle, and ends on a high note. It looks great and there is a lot of quick witted patter to make it something enjoyable.  This type of “movie stars in period costumes trapped in a single location” film hasn’t been made in awhile it feels kind of fresh.  Kind of. 

In 1933, Hercule Poirot (Branagh) is a famous private investigator riding the Orient Express train and meets a creepy criminal named Ratchett (Johnny Depp) who asks for Hercule’s protection for the duration of the trip, which Hercule decides so he can read Dickens novels. Unfortunately, Hercule is pressed into service when Ratchett ends up very dead, stabbed multiple times, and a dozen of people are suspects.   With the train stranded in a snowstorm, Hercule has to interview multiple suspects including Governess Mary (Daisy Ridley), Ratchett’s assistant Hector (Josh Gad), the seductive Caroline (Michelle Pfeiffer) and various others.  But while on the surface everyone seems genial and co-operative a deeper, darker conspiracy lurks in Hecrule’s search for the murderer on the Orient Express. 

As the director and the lead character who is heroic and moral Branagh is at the forefront and the movie does seem a wee bit like a vanity project.  Branagh used to headline a lot of his earlier movies, something like his version of Hamlet is actually really great even as he’s starring in it, but lately he’s been a bit more behind the camera directing Thor or Cinderella.   However, here it’s a Kenneth Branagh film starring Kenneth Branagh so it’s hard to not equate this as Branagh making a movie about how awesome he is.  

Happily, Branagh makes for an engaging lead actor.  A lot of that is the moustache which is so big and bombastic, like the movie itself. Also it’s entirely possible the facial hair has achieved sentience.  Since so much of Branagh’s features are hidden behind the giant (and possibly alive) battle moustache he has to emote a lot with his eyes and his voice, which works well. His first scene has him obsessively measuring the size of different eggs which adds to the quirkiness of the character.  Probably the best moment he has is when he’s hyping himself up before a final confrontation with the suspects where he’s gripping a gun and vows that the murderer can’t hide their crimes from either God or Hercule Poirot. 

The dozen suspects are briefly sketched archetypes and it’s up to the various thespians to infuse them with some dramatic gravitas. Depp manages to leer a lot and be a hateful jerk, however, his murder must be solved because Hercule takes it as a point of professional pride to solve it.  In her first major film role since Star Wars: The Force Awakens , Ridley doesn’t have a very flashy part but she’s a really compelling actress to watch.  Gad usually plays comic relief however here he plays a guy with simmering darkness.  Pfeiffer dances the line between seductive and evil that she does so well and she gets some of her best stuff in the finale. There’s even Judi Dench and while she doesn’t do much, it’s freakin’ Judi Dench so that’s awesome.    Even the various suspects who are immediately written off are still good because they each get a starring scene,

As the investigation unfolds, Hercule uncovers a tangled story that gets increasingly convoluted and a lot of key details are sort of thrown aside.  There are a few black and white flashbacks peppered throughout which helps. The ultimate resolution to the murderer is satisfying as it is as implausible.  Still Branagh stages the final solve with a lot of style and the music by Patrick Doyle accentuates the emotional pathos.  

The flick opens with a crackerjack scene in Jerusalem where Hercule lines up a priest, a rabbi and an imam to figure out who stole a precious religious artefact as he solves the case in approximately 3 minutes.  There are a lot of cool shots throughout Express like the extremely long single take shot of Hercule boarding the train.   The cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos pops and really shows off the scope of the set. There are also some crazy angles too like a top-down point of view of the body of the victim. 

Murder on the Orient Express is a very cool movie that may not make a lick of sense when it comes to a logical plausibility but it has an emotional pay off.  While the flick sort of meanders, there is a lot entertainment value gotten out how lush it looks.  The star studded period murder mystery genre has been away for awhile out so it’s fun to see another one come along and do a very decent job.