Death on the Nile | Film Review

 

I wasn't particularly excited to see this film. I didn't love the first Kenneth Branagh/Hercule Poirot film, 'Murder on the Orient Express', so I didn't have high hopes for this one. 

A couple's honeymoon on a luxury cruise is cut short when someone is found murdered.

My expectations were low, and somehow I still managed to be disappointed.

The film begins with a backstory that feels unnecessary not only in and of itself, but with the rest of the story. It doesn't give any necessary information, it doesn't aid in the telling of the story, and honestly just felt like a waste of the first 10 minutes.

Some of the performances in the film felt like parodies, which felt odd considering that all of the main cast of the film are (or have in the past been) respected actors. A lot of the acting didn't work for me and made the film hard to watch without laughing. This also goes for some of the accents in the film - not only did they not feel necessary, but some didn't feel real.

Even without the accents, the dialogue wasn't great, and nothing really felt believable.

Having said that, Emma Mackey who plays Jacqueline de Bellefort was the standout performance. She was amazing, stole every scene she was in, and out-acted everyone she played opposite. I hope this is the start of her getting much more work - though I hope she is able to keep doing Sex Education, which she is also great in.

For a film with 'death' in the title, the premise of the film starts over an hour in, and by that point it's hard to care about anything. Because I didn't care about the characters, when the death happened, I struggled to care about who did it.

None of the characters were really developed enough, particularly when we are trying to work out which one would have had motive to commit the murder. In fact, the actual motive for the murder wasn't explained as well as it could have been.

In addition, the film definitely didn't need to be as long as it was. It spent over 2 hours telling a story that takes place within about 90 minutes.

Overall, the film was a major disappointment for me. There are so many better murder mystery/whodunnit movies out there.

3.5/10