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Written by: Michael Green (screenplay by), Agatha Christie (based upon the novel "Hallowe'en Party" by)
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, retired and living in exile, reluctantly attends a seance. When one of the guests is murdered, the former detective must once again uncover the killer.
Verdict
This is a mystery movie with no suspense. Despite the setting of a haunted house, I was bored. We know the mystery will have a complicated answer that can't be guessed, but this provides no characters to root for or against to balance that. The most interesting character is Poirot's mustache which doesn't do anything other than twitch.
Skip it.
Review
The previous two movies were disappointing, so I'm not sure why I'm watching this one. This one is better than Death on the Nile, but not quite as good as Murder on the Orient Express.
Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is in Venice, and he doesn't want to do any detective work despite many offers. His old friend Ariadne (Tina Fey) convinces him to attend and debunk a seance. Poirot, to no surprise of the viewer, is quite slick and easily deduces the medium's (Michelle Yeoh) ruse. Then the medium ups the ante and the murders start. Murder seems to follow Poirot.
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| Kenneth Branagh plays Hercule Poirot |
The Poirot movies lean heavily on setting, and this haunted house provide a great foundation. Unfortunately Poirot's mustache is the most interesting character. The plot is stale. I watch this, and I just don't care. There isn't much suspense. While we get a few jump scares and twists, a lot of this movie is waiting for something to happen. With the Poirot mysteries, we're under no illusion that we can solve the mystery. It's an impossible puzzle, and that robs this of what's fun in a mystery; guessing the answer.
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| Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey play Hercule Poirot, Joyce, Ariadne |
To overcome the lack of suspense, this needs engrossing characters. Knives Out did this well. It gave us characters we didn't like, that we wanted to be the killer just so we had an excuse to condemn them. That movie is everything this isn't. In this movie, Poirot plods through the plot. This story is awfully convenient with Poirot finding a door to a basement that somehow no one had seen even though it wasn't hidden. When Poirot finally reveals the answers, I had long stopped caring.
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