Death on the Nile for better or for worse became one of my most anticipated movies of the year even if it was only because I knew that once I had seen it, it would mark the end of having to watch the trailer every single time I went to the cinema. The trailer itself had become like Rocky Horror for me knowing every single line before it was said and even sometimes with myself speaking along with it. And I have to say finally sitting there and watching the thing I found myself having a grand old time. As a matter of fact when I left the cinema I texted a friend and commented "Death on the Nile is camp and great and often unintentionally hilarious with a peppering of some genuinely great performances". I mean you can really stop there if you only read these for the summaries. Of course that text to that friend also continued to say "And Emma Mackey is now on the Tom Crush list", but I don't know if that's exactly important critical commentary for this review. New found attractions aside, let’s set sail! Because as we all know we do indeed have... "enough champagne, to fill the Nile!". Also Branagh's accent is so preposterous in this film that at one point when discussing a sea sickness he cites the boat "and champagne", but all I heard was him sincerely saying "ocean pain". One of many moments I alone sat in my cinema chuckling to myself.
Intentionality; the prevailing theme for me for this film. The chief question of all being whether or not Branagh understands that his version of Poirot is inherently ridiculous. There is an element of this portrayal that really clearly with intention leans further into the absurdities and wackiness of the character, often in actuality with humorous success, however these moments give way as the film goes on to a collection of some of Branagh's best dramatic acting since his Shakespeare works. That is of course when he's not spouting insane Belgian buffoonish banter. Which of course is enjoyable in its own way. When it comes to the rest of the cast there really are multiple excellent standouts, certainly the best of those being are two female leads in Gal Gadot and Emma Mackey. I've never been a fan of Gadot, not even as Wonder Woman I have to admit, however here I thought she was genuinely brilliant, with moments of great tragedy and elegant grandeur all balanced and conveyed with an absolute charismatic ease. Mackey too here is truly sublime, managing to balance out the multiple insanities of her character with some very touching control and some very alluring sexuality. They really are two excellent performers who make this film a performance success. Armie Hammer here is suave, debonair and perhaps annoyingly great and although I don't know if they'll admit it, does seem to be more on the outskirts of the film than an original cut would likely have him, however there's nobody to blame there but Hammer himself. Tom Bateman of the first film returns as quite a surprise to deliver the film’s most genuine and complex relationship, with his mother played brilliantly as expected by Annette Benning offering another complex back and forth. Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French appear and are of course flawless as a very close pair of women, in a touch of brilliant casting and again fine work from the two of them. Letitia Wright isn't as exceptional as the rest, but is again fine, with her aunt in the film Sophie Okonedo giving one of the films better comedic turns. Overall though it really cannot be underestimated to what extent Mackey and Gadot steal absolutely every scene they're in and really get this boat on the right course from the off!
Branagh as a filmmaker however does continue in his
bizarre choice to expand these chamber novels to include some of the most gaudy
and entirely needless CGI I have seen, especially in such a film that doesn't
need it like this one. Repeatedly the film will suddenly have focus on animals
with far from subtle metaphors all being presented with cartoonish special
effects that make one equate the film when it goes underwater to be similar in
ways to Bedknobs and Broomsticks, then one finds themselves
thinking of Angela Lansbury, which leads one to think about the prior film
adaptation of Christie's Egyptian heavy body-count bearing mystery, leading one
to return nostalgically in one’s mind to the joys of practical locations and
beautiful vistas, rather than green-screen sound stages. The beauty of knowingness
and how refreshing it can be. Now for many I feel the plot of this film,
adapted from the Christie here by Michael Green, will be more of an enthralling
tale perhaps, largely down to the simple fact that a majority of people knew
the twist and outcome of Orient Express before they sat down to watch Branagh’s turn at bat with it. Green's
script here is punchy and pacey and manages to bring to the film a lot of
undercurrent themes, again of course far from the world of subtlety, that bring
the film together cohesively in notion as well as plot. There is an entirely
needless prologue that I shall discuss in my postscript, however other than
that the film flies by and doesn't make one strain for a glance at ones watch
ever. Which for me is the most important thing; in the case of Orient
Express I was truly and deeply bored, however here I was
invested. Orient Express drowned under the weight of its own
self-seriousness, whereas here despite a collection of moments, a sense of camp
was felt that made the film far more enjoyable, which later on did give way to
a genuine drama and some real thrills. Death on the Nile really
is a major step-up in the Branagh Poirot Christie universe to absolutely no
end.
A truly camp 7/10 that really was everything the first film should have been. Nowhere near as self-serious, this time we are genuinely in for a fun romp that does actually feature as many great performances as it does over-the-top ones, all of which are enjoyable in their own way. The gaudy and shoddy CGI is glaring and not nesercery but one can't help but feel it all adds to this bizarre unintentionally handled tone of quality and camp. Branagh is a very clever man, but the greatest mystery here is not who the killer is (although the plot is solid), but rather whether or not Branagh understands the film he is making and whether or not he knows just how funny at times it really is!
P.S. I don't think it can be underestimated that within the first ten minutes of this film (a reverse Belfast; starting black and white before changing to colour) I was already laughing quite heartily at the lengths we were going to expand this story that has been told many times before and also to give weighted back-story to Poirot's love-life and most importantly his moustache. Yes, the extended prologue of this movie is a completely sincere back-story for how Poirot got his moustache, that does indeed have its own arc in this film. I prefer to say that the arc was the moustaches rather than saying it was Poirot. Now in a lesser movie of this ridiculous level this would mark the peak of unintentional hilarity, however I was overjoyed that it was only just the beginning.
P.P.S. Nice touch of ADR of "well done on your case in Egypt" at the start of the film after someone clearly realised that the terrible "there's been a death... on the Nile" line from the end of the last film was not going to make any sense at all with them keeping the plot of the novel. However this then led to questions of why Poirot wasn't cracking wise like McLane in Die Hard 2 saying stuff like "Egypt; again!"
-Thomas Carruthers
0 Comments