Death on the Nile Movie Review

Death on the Nile (2022)

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Written by: Michael Green(screenplay by), Agatha Christie (based upon the novel by)
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Letitia Wright, Emma Mackey
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
While on vacation on the Nile, Hercule Poirot must investigate the murder of a young heiress.

Verdict
This is a lot like the first movie. With all these stars, this still lacks fun. The core of the movie is an impossible mystery, but this plods through the clues until the reveal. I wanted this movie to do something dramatic, fun, or over the top, but it's trying for the middle and ends up boring.
Skip it.

Review
Writer and director/star of Murder on the Orient Express returns for another mystery. Branagh's first movie was unfulfilling. With all of the stars I wanted a bit of camp. That movie just wasn't as fun as it should be. This one is more of the same.

There's a prologue to explain why Poirot (Kenneth Branagh)  has such a mustache, but it's an explanation that's not really needed. It also serves to introduce the girlfriend Poirot left behind which factors in later.

Kenneth Branagh plays Hercule Poirot

This is a lot like the first move, nearly to a fault. There are a lot of characters thrown in to this, but we don't know who is important at first.With Agatha Christie novels, we get a lot of characters that will have a reason to oppose whoever dies. In the first movie the characters were trapped on a train, here it's a cruise ship. Through exposition Poirot gets a reason why every guest could be a potential suspect before anything has happened. I don't know of a more boring way to relay that information. It completely robs this of any character development. This movie should show, not tell.

The sets are certainly impressive from Egypt to the double decker boat, but this takes a while to get even remotely interesting as we're fed scenery and filler. We know where this is going and that we'll get a convoluted mystery. For any character or event, we only see half of it. The other half will be revealed later to explain why what we saw was a misdirection.

Armie Hammer, Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot play Simon Doyle, Hercule Poirot, Linnet Ridgeway

This doesn't kick off until half way in when the crime finally occurs. That should have happened thirty minutes in. Of course the most likely suspect has a great alibi. From there Poirot gets to work. I like this less than the first, though it's mostly in line. The big reveal is a thign just because the answer is so complicated. It would be difficult to guess with any accuracy.

This wants to be a stylish and artistic mystery, but it would certainly help if it was more fun or had better banter. Knives Out does what this movie wants to. The big difference is a sharp script and good characters. In Knives Out you get a sense of the characters early through action and word. That just doesn't happen in Death on the Nile.