DEATH ON THE NILE (2022)

DEATH ON THE NILE (2022)

Tagline: Murder was just the beginning

(Mystery, Crime, The Policy Of Truth) [PG-13]

The crime is murder. The murderer is one of you. I have investigated many crimes, but this has altered the shape of my soul. I am detective Hercule Poirot, and I will deliver your killer.

In this one, Hercule Poirot is seemingly just trying to have a nice break from solving murders when he is whisked away on the honeymoon river steamer rented by the ultra-wealthy Linnet Ridgeway and the less fortunate Simon Doyle. Of course, when that happens of course we know there is going to be a freakin murder. As the danger rises on the Nile, can Poirot solve this mystery before the bodies start to pile up? 

First off, I actually loved the cast of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS so much, that I just bought the movie without even seeing it. Then I watched it and was disappointed by the ending. This one doesn’t have that same issue. DEATH ON THE NILE is a masterpiece of storytelling and the pacing I felt was just about perfection. The 2 hour run time gives this thing room to breathe and the fact that the murder doesn’t happen in the first 10 minutes gives you time to actually get to know these characters a little. Then as the movie moves along we are given more of the “meat” so to speak regarding each of their lives and I found it all just really fascinating and well-crafted. 

Acting-wise this cast is pretty great with an exception that I am not going to discuss in this review. I am just going to leave it at that. To start, Kenneth Branagh is stunning again as Hercule Poirot. His acting is always great, but he seems to be born for this role. He is probably most famous for 1996’s HAMLET.  Russell Brand who is mostly known for his outspoken podcasts plays Windlesham. Windlesham was supposed to marry Linnet Ridgeway before she was swept off her feet by Simon Doyle. Brand is probably best known recently for 2012’s ROCK OF AGES. Leticia Wright is also good in this as Rosalie Otterbourne, but as the movie moves along I find myself liking her character less and less. She is most famous for BLACK PANTHER. Otterbourne’s mother in this movie is played by Sophie Okonedo as Salome Otterbourne. Out of everyone in this movie, she is probably my favorite character aside from Hercule. She is probably most famous for HOTEL RWANDA. Gal Gadot (best known for WONDER WOMAN) is very good in this, but I think she’s been better in other movies. Emma Mackey (who is pretty new to acting with 6 completed acting credits going into this) actually did most of the heavy lifting and was up to the task. 

Story-wise the movie went with a smaller cast than the book and I guess there were some other changes as well but it all works extremely well. Hercule is given a bit of a backstory which was never mentioned in the books, but it gave this thing even more depth than it already had. Again – if you are a fan of Agatha Christie whose books both MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS and DEATH ON THE NILE are based on, you have to remember you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and you shouldn’t judge a movie by its book. The only bad line of dialog in this movie I thought was “…and enough Champaign to fill the Nile”. It probably makes sense because the character was probably tipsy at that point, but the line just comes across as baffling and really not worthy of the rest of the film's competence level.  

Overall DEATH ON THE NILE is a lavish unrelenting movie with some expertly crafted dialog for the most part (as eluded to earlier) and extremely beautiful sets even given the CGI use. For me, this was a solid 6 out of 7 effort and a great continuation of 2022 at the theaters. I probably would have given it a 7 if something had blown up, or Legendary Godzilla showed up.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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