Death on the Nile

Perhaps I liked this even more than Orient Express. Branagh is excellent as Poirot and his black and white flashback is the most powerful scene of the entire movie. Although your can hear the paper rustling as for the detective crime plot, the acting ensemble gets the very most out of it. Emma Mackey is just fantastic. And we get to see Armie the Cannibal in his last role as well. Really, really good. (2022-09-10)

At the beginning Branagh unnecessarily illuminates the reason for the moustache, he probably thinks we viewers are complete idiots, and then in artificial digital sets, coloured like gypsies' nails, he decides to desecrate an otherwise quite nice piece of literature. I wouldn't have expected this from him, someone with a theatre background. (2022-04-20)

I’m a big fan of the detective genre, so just like with Murder on the Orient Express, I was eagerly anticipating Death on the Nile. Kenneth Branagh's portrayal of Hercule Poirot is spot-on, and the film's lavish production is undeniably impressive. But that grandeur is also where it stumbles a bit. Agatha Christie's stories, while top-tier in the mystery department, are inherently intimate affairs. This film, however, feels anything but. The cinematography is stunning — it's practically an ad for 1930s Egypt, and you can’t help but be mesmerized by it. The period atmosphere is also on point, though I could’ve done with less of the overdone sexual tension that Branagh decided to inject into the story. The cast, however, is where things get a bit shaky. The acting feels overly theatrical, to the point where nearly every character becomes irritating (except Poirot, of course — his theatricality is part of his charm). The ensemble is a collection of largely unnecessary characters, and honestly, if the boat had sunk and taken them all with it, I wouldn't have minded — the story might have ended quicker, and we’d be spared the drawn-out drama. That said, Russell Brand was a surprising standout — I didn’t even recognize him until he spoke. And Emma Mackey, who gave off major Emma Stone vibes, also caught my attention. Overall, Death on the Nile is an interesting watch, but for me, the older adaptations still hold the crown. (2022-02-11)

An extremely precisely executed whodunit, where I also experienced a rather strange and welcome paradox – I had not read the book and did not know the outcome, but I guessed the culprit quite soon after the fatal act, and it didn’t bother me at all and it didn’t seem like a weakness, but an intention, because Branagh wonderfully focuses the attention on the process of accumulating clues rather than deepening the mystery. Throughout the film, we’re almost completely aligned in our knowledge with Poirot, who sees or hears everything (and when he lies drunk outside the action, he hears everything from innocent and reliable witnesses) and we deduce with him – and can also suspect with him – who is behind everything, but concentrate only on finding the evidence scattered all over the mise-en-scène (or rather, missing from it – the red paint, the lost scarf), which the script brilliantly and rhythmically signifies, as well as the traditionally convoluted mutual past of the actors. Guessing the ending, then, isn't the film's fault, but perhaps its dominant feature – that it can be this entertaining and subtle just in the way it connects the viewer to the investigating protagonist (even emotionally, thanks to the framing prologue and epilogue) is something I really praise Kenneth for. Very nice visuals and great cinematography, which is equal to Steven Spielberg's works in the sophistication of space. I’m already looking forward to my impressions after a second screening. 90 % (2022-02-14)

Having seen the adaptations with both Peter Ustinov and David Suchet before, I approached the newest Death on the Nile as a properly described sheet of "papyrus". As a result, I couldn't fully appreciate the detective plot because I knew who was behind it all – but that's my problem. So I focused more on the acting, the visual presentation and any innovations to the source material and previous adaptations. In terms of the acting, Death on the Nile was embarrassing, even within the individual performances. From a visual point of view, however, the film definitely has something to offer, if only due to the setting in Egypt and on a boat, but some scenes seemed too artificial and contrived. Branagh's adaptation differs quite a bit from the book in its conception: the opening sequence depicting the origin of Poirot's moustache I could have easily been shortened or inserted as a flashback to the plot, and I was a bit bothered by the unnecessary sexualisation of the characters (sexual tension can be built up less blatantly). On the other hand, I didn't mind the slight changes to the characters in terms of gender, victims, etc. Death on the Nile is an appealing and modern take on Poirot, albeit set in the 1930s, which will surely be most appreciated by those unfamiliar with the source material and the other films, but I personally felt that it could have been handled differently (and better?). (2022-02-12)