Death on the Nile – An Insufferable Murder Mystery

There has been no more problematic film recently than Death on the Nile, the sequel to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh’s series based on Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot famous mystery book series where he both directs and stars as Poirot. Delayed several times due to production issues, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and for some of its problematic stars, the film is now upon us. Also based on the book of the same name, it does take some liberties with the source material but like the former, it will only go as far as the cast takes it. Boasting an impressive cast, like the previous film, the film does next to nothing with them. Reducing the cast to mere window dressing saddled with the most insufferable quirks, that personality was not there thus making it a tougher watch overall. That being said, despite not caring an ounce for this film’s central mystery, there’s something about watching Branagh charm his way through as Poirot as he was on the case. Meanwhile, the film also saw him do a decent job behind the camera.

Death on the Nile found famed detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh) on vacation in Egypt which was cut short after he found himself pulled into the complicated lives of an heiress named Linnet Ridgeway (Gadot) and her husband Simon Doyle (Hammer). The theme of love played a major part in the story as the newlywed couple and the circumstances that led to their rise earned them a few targets on their backs. Be it out of a combination of jealousy and/or resentment, there were people who were not so happy for the couple as the film made that fact fairly clear through some lengthy exposition. Nevertheless, those same people were unsurprisingly all invited to the couple’s honeymoon celebration also in Egypt. That celebration took a turn upon the arrival of the one person with arguably the most valid grievance against the couple, a woman named Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey) who acted upon that grievance by stalking and harassing the couple.

Moving things to a riverboat traveling over the Nile river didn’t seem to ease Linnet and Simon’s concerns all that much. Knowing what we know about the Poirot series and the film’s title, it was only a matter of time until something was going to happen and that was where Death on the Nile truly began to fall apart as audiences will have their patience tested as they wait. In the meantime, the pacing issues were most evident in the fact that they are left with the collective dysfunction caused by the film’s collection of absolutely insufferable characters and their various subplots. While that certainly makes for quite a test to watch, in the midst of all of that was Poirot charming his way through the characters and the case. The only saving grace to be had here, that part of the film was at least somewhat fun to watch, however, the writing this time around didn’t do the film any favors. In the end, once the film truly got going, there was more to the story but it was essentially too late.

Regardless of everything else, at least Death on the Nile was nice to look at, boasting some beautiful cinematography utilizing the Egyptian landscape. However, that could only go so far. Ultimately, the best part of Death on the Nile was Branagh’s performance as Poirot. Giving the character a largely overlooked backstory did add some interesting depth which the film did very little with other than adding a level of pain beneath his charming exterior. It would have been nice to see the film tap into that a little more but seeing him using his special set of skills on a case was still something to behold in a case that wouldn’t be as easy this time. Out of the supporting cast, Mackey as Jacqueline was a standout while Gadot and Hammer as Linnet and Simon were standouts for different reasons. Though Hammer was painful, Gadot just lacks the range needed to carry the emotional weight behind her character’s journey.

At the end of the day, Death on the Nile provides some decent entertainment in doing just enough to get by but the franchise needs to deliver enough substance to keep audiences coming back.

still courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.