Murder on the Orient Express – ★ ★ ★ ½ Review

Guess what, the book was better.  Well, that’s not really fair to say, the movie was very fun and very good, of course having read the book many, many moons ago I knew “whodunnit”.  Funny story about that, I went with a friend to see something in theatres, maybe Star Wars?  I don’t remember now, but what I do remember was seeing the trailer for Murder on the Orient Express and turning to my friend and quipped “You can tell who the killer was just from that….”, not knowing that she hadn’t read the book.  Lesson learned….again.  As my mother told me once (not that long ago), not everyone shares my sense of humour…

When the luxury train the Orient Express gets stuck in the snow during a wintery mountain pass, the nasty Mr. Ratchett (Johnny Depp) is discovered murdered in his car.  There are a dozen suspects on the unusually full train ride, but coincidentally one of those passengers happens to be renowned sleuth Hercule Poirot!

Director Kenneth Branagh also stars as Poirot and delivers a great take on the iconic detective.  The entire cast was very good.  I worry sometimes when I see a film full of stars, that the story will be diluted so everyone gets enough screen time, but that was not the case here, as Christie had already counted on making every character in the story matter.

As I said, I’ve read the book (several times actually) so I wasn’t surprised by anything, as the story on screen was very much the story on the page.  Orient Express is a classic so you can’t really change much and have it still be the Orient Express.  What I enjoyed most about this rendition was the excellent acting and the very good cinematography. Every scene looked brilliant.  One overhead shot of the train cabins panning from the murder scene to Poirot’s investigation room was a particular favourite of mine.  If you’re in the mood for a good mystery, this one is definitely worth watching.  Again, it’s a classic story that every mystery fan should experience even if it’s just so they can keep up with my bad jokes.

Bottom Line: The end of Murder on the Orient Express looks like it will lead directly into Death on the Nile, another Christie book, but this time it’s one I haven’t read.  So the question now becomes do I read it before seeing the film?