Death on the Nile

Death on the Nile has always had a bit of something luxurious, fantastic, and amazing within it. The adaptation with Ustinov made the brand famous. Later there was a series with Suchet. And this year, we can tick off the excellent new version with Branagh, which I waited for during the entire pandemic. For a better experience, it was of course ideal to watch the new Murder on the Orient Express (2017). I wish there were a few more wonderful feature films like this, because Branagh's relationship to the world of Agatha Christie is not only smart, but respectful and courageous at the same time. It offers eye-candy shots of the whole Nile cruise and directorial work with very interesting actors. In addition to the statuesque Gal Gadot, we get the classically perfect Annette Bening, the Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French duo… (02/13/2022)

I enjoyed this movie in the cinema as opposed to the recent Murder on the Orient Express, which left me completely cold because it was simply a pretentious flamboyant parade of stars with no added value. The filmmakers did not shy away from somewhat tweaking the plot of Death on the Nile. So even though I already knew the end of the story quite well, I ended up being slightly surprised by its development, where the tone of the movie became indiscriminate and somewhat pessimistic. Thumbs up for that. (04/18/2022)

At times Death on the Nile looks like a modern theatre play, at times like a largely impressive colouring book, which is inappropriate for a film of this type. The whole thing is a little bit flat, sweaty, going for power, or rather for effect. Branagh's Poirot is OK, but the rest of the cast is mostly jerking and prancing around. What's missing are real visuals, decent camera work, real sets and, most importantly, a better plot. (05/02/2022)

Having seen the adaptations with both Peter Ustinov and David Suchet before, I approached the newest Death on the Nile as a properly described sheet of "papyrus". As a result, I couldn't fully appreciate the detective plot because I knew who was behind it all – but that's my problem. So I focused more on the acting, the visual presentation and any innovations to the source material and previous adaptations. In terms of the acting, Death on the Nile was embarrassing, even within the individual performances. From a visual point of view, however, the film definitely has something to offer, if only due to the setting in Egypt and on a boat, but some scenes seemed too artificial and contrived. Branagh's adaptation differs quite a bit from the book in its conception: the opening sequence depicting the origin of Poirot's moustache I could have easily been shortened or inserted as a flashback to the plot, and I was a bit bothered by the unnecessary sexualisation of the characters (sexual tension can be built up less blatantly). On the other hand, I didn't mind the slight changes to the characters in terms of gender, victims, etc. Death on the Nile is an appealing and modern take on Poirot, albeit set in the 1930s, which will surely be most appreciated by those unfamiliar with the source material and the other films, but I personally felt that it could have been handled differently (and better?). (02/11/2022)

Hercule Poirot for the second time, and another borefest. Murder on the Orient Express is one of the few films where I fell asleep in the cinema, and Death on the Nile has a similarly leisurely pace, but thankfully it didn't cost me my cinema ticket. Nothing happens for an hour, nothing at all. They introduce uninteresting characters in an uninteresting way with uninteresting dialogue, but fortunately in a fairly attractive setting (Egypt, the Nile) – a minor plus point compared to a Train – but I still found it woefully underwhelming. I don't find Hercule Poirot interesting as a detective, he doesn't have any gripping, revolutionary investigative methods, nothing to stand out, he's an intelligent gentleman doing his job but it doesn't add much to the viewing experience. The wait for a murder here is longer than the wait for a payday, and on top of that it's just the usual uninterestingly rendered murders in every other B-grade crime series. I don't see how a fan of Se7en, Hannibal and the like, where everything from the murders to the actual investigation works, can be satisfied with the outcome here. I was counting on at least the final reveal, where an interesting twist might come, but even that is readable from the opening minutes, even without knowing the source material. For me, the prototype of the most useless and least attractive crime drama that the world may see. Only pensioners can be entertained by this. Decent visuals, fine actors, but everything else completely passed me by both cinematically and as a viewer. Story 3/5. Action 0/5, Humour 2/5, Violence 1/5, Fun 2/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 3/5. 4/10. (07/12/2022)