Death on the Nile (2022)
“How many great stories are tragedies?” – Hercule Poirot.
Death on the Nile (2022)
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Written by: Michael Green (screenplay), Agatha Christie (novel)
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening
A good ‘whodunnit’ provides the audience with suspense and a creative narrative structure. Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie adaptation Death on the Nile delivers neither.
Similar to 2017s Murder on the Orient Express (also directed by Branagh), this features an all-star ensemble cast whose characters become embroiled in a murder mystery, and must rely on the brilliant Hercule Poirot (Branagh) to find the killer. And I quite liked Orient Express – it revelled in the silliness of its hero, and the supporting cast of sublime character actors (Judi Dench, Willem Dafoe, Penelope Cruz, and Josh Gad) seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves. However, the pacing was erratic at best, with sudden pace changes distracting from the narrative.
Death on the Nile doubles down on these mistakes in the worst way possible. There are three separate ‘openings’ for the film, with the painful 50-minute prologue dragged down by a noticeably worse cast.
[Disclaimer: Branagh was still going for it, Emma Mackey is one to watch, and Sophie Okonedo can command a scene, but Gal Gadot…sheesh. Bland and boring, I have no idea what nationality her character was supposed to be, as she tried about 6 different accents throughout.]
This pacing problem also detracts from the murder mystery, as Branagh forgets that a murder mystery...NEEDS A MURDER! Without a murder to investigate, we’re instead left watching Gal Gadot do a terrible tourism campaign for CGI Egypt for over an hour. This means the first casualty in the film is…you…as you watch Gadot attempt a French, English and American accent in one sentence.
The boat set is admittedly beautiful, and things kick into gear once someone (onscreen) finally gets slaughtered, but the final act can’t save what was a meandering, uneventful first hour. Emotional scenes feel cheap and undeserved (we haven’t had enough time to form connections with the 15 ‘potential victims’), and the climax left more questions than answers.
And then they chuck in a 5-minute epilogue just to finish you off. Skip.
Rating: 4.5/10