TheRetroCritic

I talk about what I enjoyed or didn't enjoy about Murder On The Orient Express .

While remaking the Oscar-winning 1974 movie adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express instead of taking a stab at less well-known Hercule Poirot story is a bit of a shame, Kenneth Branagh aims to reintroduce the Belgian sleuth to a new generation and it makes sense that he would pick this classic story. Branagh portrays Poirot himself, of course, and we first meet him in Jerusalem where he publicly solves a simple enough case before heading back to London on the Orient Express. Kenneth Branagh makes a likeable and perfectly decent Hercule Poirot, despite the occasionally mispronounced French word. He balances out the character's intelligence and ridiculousness very well. The rest of the characters are played by an all-star cast including the likes of Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, Willem Dafoe and others. As the film's main victim, Depp gives maybe a bit too flashy of a performance to be completely convincing but that neve

Peter Ustinov makes his first cinematic appearance as Agatha Christie's iconic Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in Death On The Nile , another all-star-packed outing for the sleuth, taking over from Albert Finney for many, many years to come. This time, the setting is much more exotic than it was in Murder On The Orient Express as Poirot and a bunch of dodgy suspects board a fancy cruise along the Nile. Of course, a murder takes place on said steamer and the renowned detective soon begins his investigation. Well... I say soon but don't expect any murder to occur within at least the first hour as this one certainly takes its time when it comes to moving towards the central crime. After that, luckily, we get all the awkward interrogations and suspicious developments you'd expect from that particular type of whodunit, ending of course with a gathering of all the remaining suspects and the big reveal. The plot follows a love triangle involving wealthy heiress Linnet Rid

While nowhere near one of the first Agatha Christie movie adaptations out there, Murder On The Orient Express was the first Hercule Poirot movie to really take off, even earning Ingrid Bergman a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as one of the many passengers/murder suspects aboard the iconic train. The cast is star-studded to say the least with the likes of Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Anthony Perkins, John Gielgud, Richard Widmark, Michael York and Vanessa Redgrave all there and acting their butts off trying to outdo each other. Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film sees legendary Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) board the Orient Express last minute only to find that it is packed with dodgy characters before one of them is eventually murdered. The train gets stuck halfway through its trip in the snow so it'll be up to Poirot to solve the case before any more shady goings on occur. Now you'd think that being stuck in a train for an entire movi