Movie Review: Death on the Nile
Serving as a continuation of the exploits of Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of the Belgian detective, Death on the Nile follows Hercule Poirot as he is invited to a wedding reception of a wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway and her partner Simon Doyle. As is typical in these stories, Poirot is only one of many interesting and complicated characters who are invited to the reception, each with a reason to bare a grudge against Lady Ridgeway. As the reception unfolds the main catalyst for the films events occurs when Doyle's ex-partner Jacqueline de Bellefort invites herself to the festivities in order to ruin the newly-wed couple's honeymoon in an attempt to earn Doyle's love once more. This set's the table for a tragic murder aboard a cruise liner heading down the Nile river and it's up to Poirot to find the culprit before they reach land and risk escape.
As far as premises go it's a fairly concrete set up, a lot of the story is faithfully adapted from Agatha Christie's original novel. .As I say it's my favourite story she wrote for Poirot as it utilises a lot of interesting characters in a location that seems to feature as a character nearly as much as the people within it. The concept of love being the bitter tie that links each and every one of these people to the victim plays well in establishing an overarching theme. I also loved the set up for the mystery too, its a case that feels very hard to grasp with how many moving parts it has going throughout it . That to me is a constant strength as the best type of murder mysteries are the ones that never give the game away too early and find ways to keep you constantly guessing. While the narrative stays very true to the original novel I do appreciate an attempt to incorporate a more personal stake for Poirot in the film by reintroducing a familiar character from the past film and by accounting Poirot's own tragic history with the concept of love. It works to humanise Poirot in a way more dignified light and while I don't think it adds to the overall conclusion of the movie, it at least makes him feel more as a living person rather than a cold anchor that the plot revolves around.
In terms of pacing and tone I think the film does a consistent job in that avenue as well. The film uses a good chunk of it's first half to get you properly introduced to these characters and the motivations they all seem to have behind them. Part of what makes them so interesting too is the wealth of amazing portrayals the film has behind these characters. There are so many well known actors and actresses in this film that feel genuinely embedded in the characters they are playing. I think when you have such a massive cast like this it's easy to risk losing sight of some performances too but I feel the film incorporates them all quite evenly all throughout. The use of the setting is again one of the biggest draws of this story, and the cinematography and colour in each shot of the Egyptian locales is absolutely stellar. Branagh obviously did his homework when it came to directing this movie because it feels like a true and honest reflection of the setting Christie was so eager to inspire in her readers.
Overall Death on the Nile is another fine addition to Kenneth Branagh's portfolio of films. It does a wonderful job in adapting the original source material in a way that feels original yet still respective. The new ground it tries to tread while not all that noteworthy does feel welcomed as an honest attempt to further redefine the mysteries Hercule Poirot finds himself embroiled in. I do hope to see more from this film franchise in the future.
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