Written by Michael Green
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Poirot: "Ladies and gentlemen. I have understood in this case that the scales of justice cannot always be evenly weighed and I must learn for once to live with the imbalance. There are no killers here, only people who deserve a chance to heal. The police have accepted my first solution to the crime, the lone assassin who made his escape. I will leave the train here to conclude formalities. You are all free to go. May you find your peace with this. May we all."
It's not the first time we've had an adaptation to this particular classic from Agatha Christie but this is a big screen version that will truly live beyond it's release back in 2017.
Kenneth Brannagh has been making a name for himself as a director, especially with cutting his teeth into being the first to bring Thor to the big screen back in 2011 for the MCU and now with this adaptation of the popular novel from Christie as well.
Not only content with directing this wintery murder mystery but Branagh also cast himself in the role as Hercule Poirot and while David Suchet will remain the iconic version of that particular fictional sleuth, there's no denying that Branagh also brings a steely charm to the role as well in this outing.
Aided by likeable playboy Bouc (Tom Bateman), the duo wind up on the titular train and soon enough a murder has taken place when notorious gangster Edward Ratchett (Johnny Depp) is found murdered and everyone turns out to be a suspect.
The suspects being Ratchett's secretary Hector MacQueen (Josh Gad), his valet Edward Henry Masterman (Derek Jacobi), Spanish nurse Pilar Estravados (Penelope Cruz), conductor Pierre Michel (Marwan Kenzari), Princess Natalia Dragomiroff (Judi Dench), Dr. Arbuthnot (Leslie Odom Jr), his lover Mary Debenham (Daisy Ridley), maid Hildegarde Schmidt (Olivia Colman), Cyrus Bethman Hardman (Willem Dafoe) and Linda Arden (Michelle Pfeiffer) to name but a few.
It's an interesting game of cat and mouse as Poirot and Bouc go through each of the suspects, slowly breaking down their innermost secrets and character motivations before the big reveal that they all bandied together in order to dispose of an evil man.
It's a stunning moment in the movie when Poirot is genuinely shocked by the confessions with all of them having a sympathetic reason to kill Ratchett. It's Pfeiffer's Arden who suffered the most and it's her who gives the most compelling performance outside of Branagh himself.
It also ends the movie on a sombre note with Poirot unable to pin the murder on a single person but instead allowing the suspects to live with the magnitude of their own actions. However justified those actions happened to be in the circumstances.
- Some of the characters were changed to add more diversity to the film. Pilar is a character from another Poirot story.
- There's a Christopher Nolan cameo in the movie. He plays a waiter during a brief scene.
- Standout music: Michelle Pfeiffer provides a nice version of Never Forget during the closing credits.
- The movie ends on a teaser for Death On The Nile, which will be released in February 2022.
Murder On The Orient Express is a triumph for Branagh. A classy adaptation of a classic novel, given a reasonably modern update while maintaining the essence of what has come before. I can't wait to see his next Poirot movie.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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