I had been looking forward to Death on the Nile since Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot mentioned it at the end of Murder on the Orient Express back in 2017. I thought that was excellent and Death on the Nile starring Peter Ustinov as the Belgian detective is my favourite Agatha Christie adaptation. Also, it has suffered a series of delays, mainly caused by COVID-19 since its intended 2019 release date until now.
Branagh returns both on screen and in the director’s chair, as does Tom Bateman as his friend Bouc. The rest of the cast, that includes Annette Bening, Arnie Hammer and Gal Gadot, is new. Poirot is on vacation when he bumps into Bouc and becomes part of a group celebrating the marriage of Simon and Linette Doyle (Hammer and Gadot). He joins them on them on the S.S. Karnak, but then a murderer strikes.
I was not convinced by the surprising beginning set in the trenches of the First World War and then in a London club, but once the action moves to Egypt this proves to be terrific fun. That does mean, though, I could have done with this being a half hour longer to flesh out the scenes in Egypt and the whodunnit element of the story.
Branagh’s portrayal does not feel as definitive as David Suchet’s TV Poirot and is not as jovial as Ustinov. But he provides a lot of depth to the character without lessening the mystery that unfolds. For anyone unfamiliar with the story, it is a tricky and fascinatingly knotty problem. Branagh directs with his usual flourishes, his camera roving through the boat to brilliant effect at times. Hammer, who is noticeably absent from the film publicity because of recent allegations is his usual wooden self but the rest of the cast makes up for it. Emma MacKey is convincingly seductive and disturbed as Simon’s ex-girlfriend, Russell Brand gives comfortably his best screen performance as the doctor and Sophie Okonedo threatens to steal the whole movie as a blues singer who is part of the group.
I was hoping for a hint of a third film in the closing scene. Maybe, if following the Poirot films made in the 1970’s and 80’s, a mention of a trip to Devon (Evil Under the Sun), or better still, a case in Petra (Appointment with Death), but the lack of that was one of the few disappointments.
Rating: 8 out of 10