Death on the Nile: Movie Review

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

If ever you wanted a backstory to a moustache, or to gather an amazing star-studded cast and have them not do a lot, then Kenneth Branagh's Covid and controversy-delayed Death on the Nile is the film for you.

Hercule Poirot (Branagh, mining the mournful and revealing some layers to the Belgian detective) is back with another fiendish case set aboard the SS Karnak, five years after he boarded the Orient Express.

This time, Poirot finds himself entangled in the lives of Armie Hammer's Simon Doyle and Gal Gadot's Linnet Ridgeway after they believe Simon's ex (Sex Education's Emma Mackey, one of the few who pop on screen) is stalking them.

When things take a turn for the worse, and the bodies begin piling up, everyone's a suspect, and Poirot's got his work cut out for him.

It's not that Death on the Nile is anything less than a lavishly-shot, brilliant recreation of the era, more that Branagh's somewhat mournful take on it feels a little flat and less deadly than an Egyptian cruise trip should be.

With superb CGI-created vistas and a sense of atmosphere early on, the boat takes somewhat too long to get to its destination, and delivers only a murderous sense of intent some 1 hour in to a 2 hour outing. Leisurely it may be, but somehow, even with an overstuffed cast, it still manages to feel lacking.

It doesn't help that most of the veteran cast don't have nearly enough to do other than deal with accusations in the second half, and that the film doesn't spend enough time with each early on. One sequence sees a character dispatch reams of backstory and exposition on each to an intently-listening Poirot, dizzying audiences and leaving the whole thing feeling somewhat surface level only.

But there are some pearls within.

Despite all the controversies off the boat, Armie Hammer makes great fist of his Simon Doyle (though at times, it's hard to separate some of his offscreen allegations from the character he's playing); Sex Education's Emma Mackey is a vibrant revelation as the woman scorned, and Tom Bateman's Bouc is the best sidekick there ever could be for Poirot - their double act is dizzyingly good as it swirls around the final revelations.

And despite some flagging execution, Branagh's Poirot is a more mournful character, given the early backstory and avoiding some of the quirks that David Suchet's take on the Belgian detective would have rendered on many viewers.

Some cinematic journeys are about the destination. 

In truth, Death on the Nile is too languorous an outing to fully grasp onto, a murder mystery that lacks urgency and substance despite a prestige and sheen. There's a solid film here to enjoy, and some foundations that don't fully rattle things, but in terms of a whirling whodunnit, the biggest mystery for Poirot to tackle is how this classic story sadly falls flat.