Did we need the new 'Murder On the Orient Express'?

Murder on the Orient Express is a new take of the popular novel written by the ‘queen of mystery’ Agatha Christie. The first movie based on the title was released to critical acclaim in 1974 , receiving 6 Oscar nominations.

The newest adaptation, helmed by Kenneth Branagh - who also starred in a leading role as the beloved detective, Hercule Poirot – presented star studded cast, similarly, to the first movie, that included names such as Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, and Judi Dench.

The movie starts from Hercule Poirot solving a crime that has been done in Jerusalem, where man has been killed and the precious gold has been stolen. After that, Poirot gets by an accident on the train he was not supposed to be on and that’s where the main plot starts.

The premise and mystery itself is rather interesting. A man played by Johnny Depp is murdered inside the train, he was stabbed 12 times. Among the passengers, there’s a killer and that’s when the main character played by Branagh needs to solve the murder and find out who the killer is. Without spoiling who actually did it, I enjoyed the fact that the answer was not as straight forward as in most of the similar movies. For those, who did not watch the original movie nor read a book, where the original source came from - guessing the correct answer can be hard.

On the technical side, the production design was constructed in detail, very cleverly showing the by-gone era. Costumes were very accurately representing time in which the story takes place, the actors were styled as people in 1930’s. They were visually appealing. The music was mysterious and fitted the atmosphere correctly. The sporadically use of black and white in flashbacks was all too familiar but successful device to push unravel the mystery.

Despite the promising cast, the movie itself disappointingly failed to bring anything new to the table. As a film Murder on the Orient Express is cohesive murder mystery, decent enough to keep you entertained through thought, but lacking the magic of the original directed by Sidney Lumet. The ending result is a typical ‘guess who done it’ feature. What was fascinating and ground-breaking 40 years ago, today can easily get lost among the other similar titles. It is an unnecessary addition to the endless list of Hollywood remakes.

While adapting a book, or remaking a movie - in this case both, it’s important to think of the ways to give source material justice. An adaptation should be faithful to the original, remake can also be but should also offer something new.The main plot has not been changed much. Branagh, however brought something fresh to his character. The mustache that has been described so definitely as dyed and carefully cultivated in the books, has been replaced for huge, gray and plush. Another notable change, includes some the characters been slightly changed or replaced. The main character was also some sort of a ‘superhero’, having chasing and fighting scenes, and always saving the day. While in the books he did not do any of those things.

The movie turned out to attract enough viewers and became a Box Office success worldwide and that shows that viewers were generally satisfied with a watch. Sequel has already been green-lit by the studio and is currently in works.

As a cinematic experience, Murder on the Orient Express is quite fast paced. The long dialogue works as a strength of the screenplay. Acting wise, all the A-listers involved in the film did a decent job and portrayed interesting characters. I would recommend the film to the mature audience. It’s an easy watch that entertains and challenges the viewer to play a detective and trying to solve the on-screen murder mystery, while dropping a lot of hints.

3/5

#murderontheorientexpres #johnnydepp #judidench #michellepfeiffer #kennethbranagh #daisyridley #penelopecruz #mystery