Death on the Nile (2022) * *

 

Directed by:  Kenneth Branagh

Starring:  Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Emma Mackey, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Ali Fazal, Russell Brand, Jennifer Saunders, Letitia Wright, Sophie Okonedo, Dawn French, Rose Leslie

Kenneth Branagh loves to edge toward the theatrical in his version of Death on the Nile, his second outing as Belgian super sleuth Hercule Poirot.   His Murder on the Orient Express worked on its own terms.  Death on the Nile takes a while to get going, mostly because Branagh is interested in presenting us back stories as to why he wears that mustache and how the married couple honeymooning on the Nile River came to meet.   The original version of Death on the Nile (1978) didn't have much time for such expositions.   With style and a certain tautness, the 1978 film starring Peter Ustinov as Poirot started on the boat and jumped right into the murder mystery.

In Branagh's version, the mystery begins when we are introduced to an engaged couple cutting the rug at a London nightclub.   They are Simon Doyle (Hammer) and Jacqueline de Bellefort (Mackey), who appear to be very much in love until Simon is introduced to Jacqueline's friend, heiress Linette Ridgeway (Gadot).  Linette knows how to make an entrance and soon Simon is enthralled as they dance a naughty number while Jacqueline looks on helplessly.   Six weeks later, Simon and Linette are married and Jacqueline assumes the role of stalker to the glamourous couple.   

The wedding party is one which shouldn't be invited to a wedding.   They include a doctor who is Linette's former fiance (Brand), Poirot's friend Bouc (Bateman), Bouc's disapproving mother (Bening), a Communist sympathizer and her nurse (Saunders, French), Bouc's girlfriend (Wright) and her blues singer mother (Okonedo), and Linette's shady accountant cousin (Fazal).   

Linette is soon found murdered following a spat between Simon and Jacqueline in which Jacqueline shoots her former fiance in the leg.   Poirot is on the case; a man who is always in the wrong place at the wrong time.   His keen instincts and observations allow him to pick up on clues others wouldn't.  A prologue from World War I, while mostly unnecessary, shows us Poirot's genius while filling in the blanks on his romantic history with the woman whose picture he mourned over in Orient Express.

A pall is cast over Death on the Nile, as well as significant CGI, which makes it a less fun whodunit.  Branagh is surely capable, but he prefers to play Poirot as a sad man with Regrets and Secrets.   He doesn't have Ustinov's knack for relishing in toying with each suspect's guilt as they are gathered for the inevitable climax in which the murderer is revealed.   How Poirot is able to convince the guilty party that he or she will hang for the crime leaves out a clever bluff from the 1978 film.   

What we have is a capably made murder mystery which leaves out the most important aspect which makes it intriguing for the viewer:  a sense of humor and joy.