Once more we have another entry into the Kenneth Branagh Poirot series which for me has grown from homework like movies exemplifying a waste of talent to an absolute camp joy to now a very effective spooky mystery. In many ways the initial flaws of Branagh’s Orient Express and Death on the Nile are still here, however some have been effectively done away with and the film’s biggest strength overall is an almost complete departure from the grandness of the previous films, instead replacing the gaudy CGI and huge fake vistas with the intimacy and gothic terror of a venetian palazzo, in this time an actually well designed and real set. Whereas I despised Orient Express, had great camp fun albeit one could not comment on genuine quality with Nile, I was pleasantly surprised that A Haunting in Venice not only has some genuinely great moments but also manages to maintain the camp quality of Nile without drowning in the self-seriousness of the first entry.
Now I’m in no way so saying that Venice is some horror masterpiece or even a truly solid murder mystery, but in so many ways Venice is exactly what these films should have been all along, fuelled in this case by a bizarre tonal shift that allows for a greatly intriguing overall setting and setup. It seems, although I’m sure some CGI enhancement was in use, that Branagh has actually this time used real locations and settings in the places he’s using as locations. Which just makes such an immediate difference and in the case of the storm that cuts off the central palazzo and the crashing water that underscores the film, a real sense of stakes and tangible setting is created. Branagh with his direction in this film working once again with cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos manages to somehow with this film make an entirely visceral and graspable scenario and setting where his previous films have failed so unfortunately. Venice is spooky, gothic and riveting, even though in the ultimate product of its mystery the screenplay doesn’t actually offer up much for the audience to clue in on, instead having one of the more miraculous Poirot revelations that in this case very few could have seen coming. It’s no less entertaining when the stretches and the laughable leaps are revealed to us with dynamic flashbacking, but it does lack a certain element of guess-ability that I personally feel a solid and enjoyable murder mystery must have. We of course love to be fooled, but we also want to be able to guess certain factors beyond the simple “well they haven’t had much screen-time” or “they’re a famous actor who hasn’t been given much to do”. We want in-film factors to guess at, not external. In this sense Michael Green’s screenplay does suffer, but mostly Green suitably embodies the joy of Poirot whilst also with tact handling the dramas and the traumas of the post-war world Branagh has choice to set this film in – with a ten year difference between this and Nile despite Branagh looking no different at all.
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Overall
performance wise everybody is on the same level of slightly campy and slightly
arch performing style balanced out with some truth here and there. Branagh has
found by now a mould for Poirot that I find very enjoyable with previous
annoyances and grating edges smoothed off without loosing the overall
quirkiness of the classic character. Tina Fey appears her as a His Girl
Friday wisecracking screwball send-up of Agatha Christie herself and is for
the most part able to deliver the quipiness and speed that is required of a
role like this, however never exactly feels a perfect fit for the role with
regret with my absolute love of the majority of Fey’s output in front and
behind the screen. Michelle Yeoh on the other hand is sensational managing to
balance the most outlandish and bombastic character in the film with a series
of moments where in fact she is the most quiet and reserved – a great and very
entertaining propulsive performance for this films early set-up and onward. Kelly
Rilley is mostly hysterical for the length of the film and is melodramatic and
overwrought in a manner that I personally found entertaining, even if the reveals
of her specific character never led exactly to a big performance moment and
were somewhat predictable in the first place. Jamie Dorman appears here and is
of all the stellar actors on the call-list given the least to do, but as a more
reserved character than we have seen before from him, he was as solid as he
always is. Kyle Allen, Ali Jhan, Emma Laird and Camille Cottin all offer
serviceable supporting turns that aren’t exactly given moments to truly pop,
but in their own separate lanes do solid work. However the undoubted MVP of
this films ensemble is the young Jude Hill reuniting with Dorman and Branagh
again after his sensational debut turn in Belfast. This is an incredibly
ridiculous creation of a child character that Hill manages to not only make wholly
entertaining, but also repeatedly believable with a final few moments that in
the wrong hands could send this film back into the gaudy ‘so bad it’s good’
nature of Nile.
A very entertaining 6/10 gothic mystery marvel. This is at long last what I wished from the very off with these films, after the gaudy yet terribly camp and unintentionally enjoyable Death on the Nile and the genuinely dull and painfully drab Orient Express, Venice is instead the final solidification of what these films should have always been – swift, pacey, effective mysteries with an enjoyable lead balanced nicely between absurdity and grit, with a great ensemble of actors working on the same over-the-top level to make for a neat little thriller. This film looses in the realm of its mystery being wholly unattainable for the audience, but gains a lot from the pulled off horror angle that this film infuses. Branagh has made with Venice a joyous new addition to my cosy Halloween viewing for the future.
SPOLIER P.S. Is it just me who wanted the film to go the full hog on the Jude Hill character? I mean we got enough with that great reveal with the blackmail, but why not go all the way and just make him the murderer? In many ways it would not be in any way more far-fetched than the actual reveal itself and would certainly be more entertaining.
SPOLIER P.P.S. And the award for the most bloodless and most ‘easy’ impaling on a stature goes to…
- - Thomas Carruthers
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