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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 321289" data-attributes="member: 23">Murder On The Orient Express (2017) <img src="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=murder+on+the+orient+express+2017+poster&t=iphone&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.openwriting.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F11%2FMurder-on-the-Orient-Express-Film-Poster.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> “Does what it says on the tin” is probably the best way to describe this one. If anything it’s a little better than my not-so-great expectations. It has all the hallmarks of a big-screen Agatha Christie adaption with many big names and familiar faces: Johnny Depp; Michelle Pfeiffer; Willem  Dafoe. And of course Dame Judi and Olivia Colman  who, I understand, have to appear in every British co-produced drama by law. It looks very impressive visually, with stunning location work, gorgeous costumes and slick direction, though the latter was occasionally distractingly showy. Sometimes the directional showmanship worked (such as a wonderful shot of Dafoe through bevelled glass giving multiple images of his performance at once) but frequently it didn’t (there was that peculiar and unflattering aerial corridor shot  just as the body was about to be discovered. And the introduction of Pfeiffer’s character - walking from carriage to carriage  inside the train, but shot from outside with her passing multiple windows - was so nauseating I was forced to look away). Delivery and accents are usually my biggest bugbears and I girded my loins as I pressed “play”. I’d expected the British accents to be contemporary RP, and indeed most were. Biggest vocal offenders were the cast’s young women (who also gave the poorest performances overall). The pretty dark haired governess  with sparkly brown eyes did the young intern/Holly Willoughby modern RP thing of speaking well while t-dropping, which is a combination that simply didn’t exist in the early and mid 20th Century.  Meanwhile, the blonde drug addicted one spoke with actual vocal fry, which sounded ridiculous  (fortunately she wasn’t in it much). Despite the inauthenticity, it actually wasn’t too distracting, in part because - despite being a period piece - the production values place it firmly in the early 21st Century. There were a few of the usual contemporary tweaks, amalgam characters and added/changed character backgrounds, though far fewer than expected which was pleasing. I’d say they had no impact on my enjoyment for better or worse. Two other obstacles for the film were the overly familiar story and the impact made by earlier adaptations. The former is simply a fact. At this point there can’t be many who don’t  already know who did the killing in one of the best-known murder-mysteries of all time. This did affect the power of the ending. There was nothing in the way it was presented here to mitigate that and I felt performances and direction in the reveal and murder flashback were quite lacklustre, meaning the denouement was the inevitable damp squib. On the latter, most of the film comes out quite favourably. As mentioned, it looks great and feels big-budget. Time will tell whether it becomes a classic in the same way as earlier adaptions. Regarding Poirot himself,  I feel David Suchet will remain the definitive Poirot for me, and yet the Albert Finney version of this particular story feels the most iconic and rewatchable, so he is also strongly associated with this story for me. Kenneth Branagh’s version turned out watchable enough. At the beginning I feared I was going to hate his portrayal when he threw in some curious and unnecessary vocal tics somewhere between a hack and a whinny (they reminded me of the comical noises Brian Murphy sometimes did to punctuate his lines as George Roper) but fortunately these seemed to be largely dropped as the film progressed. Overall I enjoyed his performance and while I prefer Poirot as a plain eccentric rather than someone evidently suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder as presented here I did appreciate him going in a different direction. The look of the character, too, felt new and pleasingly different, though I couldn’t help feeling he looked a bit young and rather too good looking to convince as this character. Despite my nitpicking, I’d say this is an enjoyable film that one can tune into and enjoy a bit of glamorous escapism. It would make a great Sunday matinee, if anyone is looking for something to watch this afternoon.</blockquote>

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