CommentsOff on Film Review: Murder On The Orient Express (USA, 2017) beautifully captures the essence of Agatha Christie’s material With its classic style, striking ensemble, and lack of action-heavy set pieces, Murder on the Orient Express may be a little too refined for modern audiences versed in the ways of today’s distraction-centricHome News Streaming Image credit Netflix In this era ruled by IP, is it utterly delightful that the original murder-mystery Knives Out has become one of the most high-profile franchises. Rian Johnson’s 2019 film and its sequel, Glass Onion, are inspired by Agatha Christie’s work, but bear a modern sensibility and style. Knives Out follows the brilliant master detective Benoit Blanc, whose cases typically involve a motley group of haves and have nots. In the first movie, he investigates the death of a wealthy patriarch whose strained family relationships make all his relatives suspects. In Glass Onion, Blanc is invited to an island by a tech mogul for a murder-mystery game, only for it to turn real and deadly. Netflix reportedly paid $469 million for the rights to two Knives Out sequels. Glass Onion was the first, and a second should be in the works. But it may be several years before Johnson can get to it. In the meantime, watch these seven ensemble-driven murder-mystery movies like Knives Out and Glass Onion. Plus, if you’ve got time to binge, check out great detective shows to stream right 2006Image credit Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoRian Johnson made Knives Out with a bit of murder-mystery experience under his belt. His directorial debut, Brick, is a whodunnit set in a high school. Johnson cleverly uses teen tropes to mimic an old-school noir cliques instead of gangs, slang that’s as opaque as 30s-era jargon and a loner serving as a hard-boiled Frye Joseph Gordon-Levitt is disturbed when he receives a call from his ex-girlfriend Emily Emilie de Ravin begging for help. The next day, he finds her dead body and vows to solve her murder himself. To do so, Brendan must decode Emily’s final mysterious message, and surf the social strata of his high school. The clues point to a local drug baron nicknamed the Pin Lukas Haas. Rent/buy on Amazon or AppleClue 1985Image credit Allstar Picture Library Ltd. / Alamy Stock PhotoThe big-screen adaptation of the classic murder-mystery board game was a flop in theaters, but has found new life as a cult favorite. It’s beloved for a campy sense of humor, witty and often racy dialogue, scenery-chewing performances and madcap multiple a secluded New England mansion, six guests arrive for a dinner party. They’re all given aliases Mrs. Peacock, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Professor Plum, and Miss Scarlet. When a seventh guest, Mr. Boddy Lee Ving, turns up dead, the others become suspects. With the police on their way, they start pointing fingers at each on Prime Video or Paramount PlusMurder on the Orient Express 2017Image credit Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoAgatha Christie’s mystery novels served as a source of inspiration for Johnson, so we naturally have to include two film adaptations on this list. The first is Kenneth Branagh’s 2017 version of Murder on the Orient Express the 1947 take is also very good. Like Johnson, Branagh fills out his ensemble with big stars, including Judi Dench, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Michelle Pfeiffer and Johnny Depp. Branagh himself plays the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, enormous mustache and all. While traveling on the luxurious Orient Express, Poirot is called upon to solve the murder of a rich American businessman. He interrogates the passengers and crew, hoping to find the killer before they strike on Amazon or AppleDeath on the Nile 1978Image credit Album / Alamy Stock PhotoOur second Agatha Christie movie pick is this star-studded 1978 adaptation of Death on the Nile Branagh also remade it, in 2022. The cast is stacked Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow and David Diven. Peter Ustinov portrays Poirot, who happens to be on board a luxury cruise on the Nile River when a newlywed heiress is murdered. Poirot is on the case, along with trusted friend Colonel Race Niven. They discover many of the steam ship’s passengers had motive to kill the woman, including her maid, a kleptomaniac socialite and a Communist writer. And of course, you can’t discount her husband or his free with ads on Freevee, Pluto, The Roku Channel or TubiGosford Park 2001Image credit Maximum Film / Alamy Stock PhotoLike Knives Out and Glass Onion, Gosford Park takes place in an extravagant setting and features a cast of heavy hitters. The names include Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Charles Dance, Kelly Macdonald and Richard E. Grant. Robert Altman’s satirical whodunnit puts more focus on the class clash between the upper-crust elite and their servants as they spend the weekend at an English country estate. Everyone is hiding secrets of some kind, whether they are financial, sexual or criminal — or all three! So, when one of the guests is killed, they are all suspectsRent/buy on Amazon or AppleThe Usual Suspects 1995Image credit ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock PhotoA murder-mystery is nothing without twists and turns, and The Usual Suspects might feature one of cinema’s greatest red herrings. After a ship fire kills 27 people, one of the two survivors is the disabled con man Roger "Verbal" Kint Kevin Spacey. During his police interrogation, Verbal relates how he and his associates came to be on the ship. In the previous weeks, Verbal claims that a crime lord named Keyser Soze arranged for a group of five criminals to pull off a heist. Soze is considered a mythic figure in the underworld, but things turn deadly when Verbal and his partners get close to identifying him. Nothing is exactly what it seems, though, as the police and FBI soon free with ads on Freevee, Pluto or TubiZootopia 2016Image credit Collection Christophel / Alamy Stock PhotoHere’s a more family-friendly ensemble mystery that is just as satisfying, entertaining and clever as the more mature titles on this list. The animated movie is set in the city of Zootopia, which is populated by anthropomorphic mammals. Judy Hopps Ginnifer Goodwin is proud to be the first rabbit to join the police force, but soon learns enforcing the law is no picnic. When a river otter is one of the latest mammals to go missing, Judy volunteers for the case. Unfortunately, it entails teaming up with the sly fox con artist Nick Wilde Jason Bateman. As they track down clues and talk to various mammals of interest, they uncover a much larger conspiracy than they had imagined. Watch on Disney PlusMore from Tom's Guide9 movies like John WickThe best Netflix movies to watch right now15 summer movies we can't wait to see Instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Kelly is a senior writer covering streaming media for Tom’s Guide, so basically, she watches TV for a living. Previously, she was a freelance entertainment writer for Yahoo, Vulture, TV Guide and other outlets. When she’s not watching TV and movies for work, she’s watching them for fun, seeing live music, writing songs, knitting and gardening. Most Popular
AgathaChristie's Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express [New Blu-ray]. Please view all photos for condition
Story Based on Agatha Christie’s celebrated crime mystery novel, the film revolves around the murder of a dubious businessman aboard the luxurious first class compartment of the Orient express. With almost every co-passenger being a suspect, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot’s Kenneth Branagh sharp deduction skills are put to test once Loaded with mysterious intentions, cheeky humour, clever repartee and an ensemble cast that comprises some of cinema’s biggest names, Murder on the Orient Express makes for an intriguing watch. Strangers being stranded on a stalled train makes for a great premise, given the thrill of finding a killer lurking this dangerous train ride has its own delays if not derailment. Kenneth Branagh who plays the most crucial character of Poirot and directs the film as well, looks like he is trying to bite off more than he can he manages to infuse the necessary underlying tension, awkwardness and silence between his characters, he and his dramatic moustache and accent struggle to make this retelling of 1930s whodunit, appeal to the contemporary audience. To set an entire movie in just one frame train compartment and yet make it look engaging is another challenge. Branagh wins some, loses particularly liked how he captures his characters as they steal a glance at each other. You wish the story played around their unspoken emotions a little more before diving straight into the investigation. Character buildup seems hurried and thus of Poirot and his obsession for balance’, only if Branagh had maintained that as a director as well. Barring Michelle Pfeiffer and Branagh himself, most talented actors like Judi Dench and Penelope Cruz get lost in the despite the glitches and avalanches, thanks to a stellar cast and gripping source material, this mysterious train journey is worth taking. Does it have a twist in the end? You have to watch the movie to know that.
Murder she wrote, and Hollywood loved her for it. Or they used to, at least — plundering Agatha Christie’s vast catalog of posh, stabby whodunits for On a certain level, you can’t help but wonder how yet another production of Murder On The Orient Express even exists in 2017. It’s not as if audiences have been begging for more Agatha Christie content in recent years or that there’s suddenly been a massive revival in drawing room mysteries to explain why a studio would want to make a blockbuster version of Christie potboiler. It likely exists as a big expensive Kenneth Branagh ego trip, surrounded by a bunch of famous friends as cover. This thing shouldn’t have made it through the studio system at all, especially as a grand and expensive studio release. Johnny Depp in Murder on the Orient Express 2017 – image via 21st Century Fox Yet on another level, it kind of makes sense. After all, many moons ago the paperback murder mysteries that Christie specialized in had a similar level of cultural cache and success as comic books. Plus, this famous property is also technically part of a larger franchise linked by Christie’s super detective Hercule Poirot. Fox likely looked at the star-packed project and saw the potential for a blockbuster franchise with just enough period prestige to qualify as awards bait and bring in a bundle from older audiences. Sure, there’s a certain desperation involved to stretch Agatha Christie into a potential repeatable Hollywood franchise. But hey! Maybe it could work. Well, sadly, that seems unlikely when you actually shove Branagh’s big safe gamble into your eyeholes. That’s not to say that Murder on the Orient Express is a particularly bad movie—because it’s not. It’s fine. It’s perfectly decent and totally watchable. It’s just not particularly exciting despite all the famous faces and blockbuster razzmatazz. There’s very little here that didn’t work better in the 1974 cinematic adaptation of this story and not only will viewers who remember that version likely shrug off the new one, but the creaky old conventions in play are unlikely to bring in many new viewers. Sure, murder and intrigue and famous and big ol’ set pieces all pop up in the flick on the regular, just in ways that feel awkwardly out of date and forced into contemporary mainstream filmmaking styles at once. Kenneth Branagh and Daisy Ridley in Murder on the Orient Express 2017 – image via 21st Century Fox At the centre of it all is Kenneth Branagh, not just over-directing the hell out of the movie so that every camera angle is a canted show off shot filled with unnecessary CGI effects to needlessly expand the scale, but also overacting as a Belgian super detective who is a cross between a less funny Inspector Clouseau and a less exciting Sherlock Holmes. The guy goes big as both director and actor, chewing scenery and whipping the camera around like a Michael Bay oddly obsessed with gentle early 20th century mysteries. It can get a bit overbearing, but it’s also frequently fun. There are few blockbuster specialists in history as unexpected as Branagh and he’s gotten good at what he does. Sure the focus is middlebrow and dated, but that’s to be expected from the Branagh at this point. Mugging overacting isn’t always a given with the guy, but that’s fine. After all, he’s got a hell of a cast to try and overshadow at the centre. Indeed, there’s virtually no one in this sprawling list of murder suspects who isn’t super famous or at least instantly recognizable. The big name is Johnny Depp, playing a dastardly jerk pretty much destined to be murdered from the second he opens his mouth and spits out a vulgar old timey criminal accent in a distinctly British tale. After Depp’s role is reduced to a bloody corpse, it’s up to the likes of Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, Willem Dafoe, Josh Gad, Penelope Cruz, and Michelle Pfeiffer to act super suspicious as Branagh runs through the suspects. Some of the performers are wasted, some are overused, some are awkwardly out of place, and exactly one of them shines brightly. That’d be Michelle Pfeiffer, who does so much with so little you can’t help but hope that she’s primed for a comeback. Other than that, it’s fun to see these famous faces do shifty-eyed acting. But ultimately, this type of mystery writing and characterization has been around for so long that little of it surprises. The story is still well told and lands on a pretty great solution to all the parlour games, but it ultimately feels old fashioned rather than nostalgic. The type of story best suited to BBC broadcast, no many how many famous faces, special effects, and show-off camera moves Branagh lavishes all over the material. Judi Dench and Olivia Colman in Murder on the Orient Express 2017 – image via 21st Century Fox That’s ultimately the biggest problem with Murder On The Orient Express; we’ve been here before and enough times that there’s little need to do it again. Sure, it’s kind of fun to watch a clearly amused Kenneth Branagh get to play with one of the most expensive train sets ever constructed while sharing the stage with a bunch of famous friends. It’s just also a bit rich to think that Branagh and the studio seem so cockily convinced that they can stretch this thing into a blockbuster franchise for grownups. This is a passable bit of light entertainment, but hardly something worthy of a multi-year and film investment. Fortunately, it’s highly unlikely enough people will show up for this stagey bit of faux blockbusterdom to imagine it all leading to an Agatha Christie Cinematic Universe. It’ll likely be a quickly dismissed and forgotten experiment. But hey, at least Branagh and a bunch of his famous friends had a bunch of fun making a movie, right? Sure, it would have been better if audiences had even half as much fun watching the results. But hey, you can’t have everything, right?Therehad already been an excellent film adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel "Murder on the Orient Express" back in 1974, directed by Sidney Pollack. It was nominated for several Oscar awards including Best Actor (Albert Finney), Best Supporting Actress (Ingrid Bergman, who won), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best.