MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS -- a review




MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS


A 20th Century Fox movie, Murder on the Orient Express  is based on a novel by Agatha Christie with the same title and is the fourth adaptation today of one of her most ingenious works.


The 2017 movie directed by Kenneth Branagh is a multi-starrer and opens in Jerusalem with Poirot ( Director Branagh himself) solving a case there and wishing to go on a ‘oliday’ (holiday) to take a break from it all. He just wants a vacation. With the help of an associate Bouk ( Tom Bateman ) working for the Orient Express, he secures a luxurious first class cabin on the train with a bunch of characters played by several stars from Hollywood such as Penélope Cruz as Pilar Estravados, Judi Dench as Princess Dragomiroff, Johnny Depp as Samuel Ratchett, Leslie Odom Jr. as Dr. Arbuthnot, Michelle Pfeiffer as Caroline Hubbard and many more.


A suspenseful mystery, the classic predecessor in the 1974 movie directed by Sydney Lumet also had a stellar cast where the famous Orient Express, boarded by a bunch of people going to different destinations, comes to a standstill in the middle of nowhere. A murder is committed on the train and Albert Finney as the dandyish Hercule Poirot, the greatest detective in the world by his own admission, must find the killer. The movie was a great success.


Here however, from Jerusalem the famous Orient Express sets off on a long journey to the wintry delights of the Occident. An avalanche derails the train and the passengers stay put inside as help is sought from afar to get the train on its tracks. In the meantime, viewers take delight in the mood and the ‘30’s period charms in the movie that are well set with the furs and jewellery, the opulence in the décor of the train interiors and the lazy cocktail-sipping wealthy folk lounging around in the restaurant car. Then suddenly Ratchett, the villain of the piece, is discovered dead and the plot thickens. Branagh is not as fastidious as David’s Suchet’s Poirot and descends from his pet peeves and fetishes with ‘balancing the imbalances’ around him to find the murderer.


However, even with 13 suspects with unpronounceable names, all in a tizzy, there’s an element of predictability that borders on boredom at times and the tone of the movie turns grey every now and then.


As in many Agatha Christie stories the murder on the train gets complicated as it is tied to a murder in the past committed elsewhere as a plot for revenge must be hatched. Only Hercule Poirot must connect the two together. However, we are not told how he makes the connections and succeeds in solving the mystery.


Nevertheless, the dramatics in the film, the music and photography, the histrionics of the star cast, great screenplay by Michael Green --all make the movie rather watchable. So, I think, one shouldn’t miss it.


Dola Dutta Roy ©  November 2017

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