Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express

A Review

By Moriya Porter

B+

Based on Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name, Murder on the Orient Express is a story about the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.  (Not Hercules, he does not slay the dragons.)

Premise:

In the 1930’s, famed private detective Hercule Poirot is taking a break from solving crimes.  After running into an old friend upon finishing a big case, the eccentric Belgian decides to take a holiday and enjoy the Orient Express, a scenic train ride through Europe.  His vacation is brought to an abrupt and literal halt when there is a murder among the passengers and the train has been snowed in.  Poirot reluctantly puts his little grey cells to work trying to solve the crime before the train’s path is cleared and all the suspects go their separate ways.  As he attempts to peel back the layers of the complex crime, he is puzzled by the psychology of it all… until he realizes that the passengers may not be who they say they are.

Poirot is played by Sir Kenneth Branagh, who also directs the project.  The cast includes some big Hollywood names, Daisy Ridley (The Force Awakens), Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Josh Gad (Frozen), and Judi Dench just to name a few. To fill it out the whodunnit, there is also Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe and Olivia Coleman (Broadchurch).  

Thoughts:

This film was a good adaptation of Christie’s work.  It made a few key plot changes that Christie herself would’ve likely approved of (like Michelle Pfeiffer's performance as Linda Arden), and brought a star studded cast to fill the large creative shoes.  While the cast list is most impressive, some might argue that the big names only distract from the characters, which is fair.  (Ex:  Johnny Depp plays an American gangster named Casetti, and my husband kept seeing Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.)  It was somewhat disappointing however, to observe the lack of attention paid to Poirot.  A detail oriented character himself, some of his (perhaps less likable) flaws and quirks were lessened or completely ignored.  Ex: At one point, Poirot gets down on the ground of the train to look under a door.  Poirot from the books would have most definitely laid down a handkerchief before touching the floor, or a public railing, as he is seen doing earlier in the film.  Poirot also walks with a cane due to an old injury, so he generally isn’t able to participate in an intense chase, another glaring overlook.  Assumedly, the book Murder on the Orient Express was chosen for adaptation since it is one of Christie’s most famous Poirot novels, but it does prove somewhat problematic, as it is actually one of the later novels in the series.  Starting with this film puts us awkwardly in the middle of his story arc.  If there is a decision to continue with Poirot films, it will be interesting (and possibly worrisome) to see how they address this.  

On the plus side, the cinematography features big, swooping shots of scenery that are striking and one of the film’s clear strong points. The humor is spotty: there were times when people in the theater laughed when there wasn’t actually a joke.  More care could have been taken with the script to tighten it up and this issue could’ve been easily avoided.  There were also a few unnecessary scenes regarding Poirot and a lost love.  This is inaccurate from the books and untrue to Poirot’s character.  He was never one to pine or be (overly) sentimental, and those scenes only served as obvious set up for a falsely forced side story that the film never got around to.

There are many different adaptations of Christie’s work, so for those who are interested in seeing other versions, Agatha Christie’s Poirot is a series done by the BBC where Poirot’s adventures are told in episodes and made for tv movies.  I highly recommend these, as they are the best versions of Christie’s famed work that I’ve come across.  They’re version of Murder on the Orient Express is excellent, and even has some recognizable stars like Jessica Chastain.

Agatha Christie is the best selling author of all time, her work being outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible, so naturally a project of this caliber deserves great filmmakers and a high budget to do it justice.  Poirot appears in more than 30 novels and 50 short stories, written over 55 years of Christie’s life.  While diehard fans will notice inconsistencies, overall it is a fair adaptation.  There is already talk of a sequel, and we get a hint about which novel it would be an adaptation of at the end of the film.  If it moves forward, hopefully it will continue to move in the right direction to honor the Queen of Mystery’s most famous detective.

Murder on the Orient Express is rated PG-13 for violence and thematic elements. You can check here for more in depth information about the content of the film.