Death on the Nile: Branagh brings Poirot to the big screen (again) in chill

Kenneth Branagh’s latest film, Death on the Nile, is colorful, vibrant, and edge-of-your-seat thrilling, successfully adapting a twentieth-century detective novel to the big screen of the twenty-first.

The film features Branagh (Belfast and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Tom Bateman (Cold Pursuit), and Letitia Wright (Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame), among other acclaimed actors.

Death on the Nile is based on famed British mystery author Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name, first published in 1937 to critical success. It continues the series centered around Hercule Poirot (pronounced “pwah-row”), a Belgian detective famous for his intelligence, quirky neatness, and “little gray cells” approach to solving crimes. In this story, Poirot, while vacationing in Egypt, is suddenly thrown into the midst of a love triangle turned grisly on board a steamer on the Nile River. As the body count stacks up, Poirot must follow the clues to find the murderer.

Branagh once again takes up the role of Poirot in this film, having starred as the detective in the first of his Christie adaptations, Murder on the Orient Express, in 2017. Poirot is a finicky character to accurately play; his many distinctive quirks, mannerisms, and patterns of speech are comprehensively portrayed in Christie’s books, so it’s easy for fans to nitpick actors’ interpretations of him. David Suchet, a British actor, is widely considered to be the definitive Poirot, after his work as the lead actor in the long running television series Poirot (1989-2013). Branagh’s interpretation of Poirot captures the essence of the detective’s mind and spirit (with one exception, which will be discussed later) while stepping away from his traditional physical characteristics. Viewers of the film will note that Branagh is neither little nor round of figure, does not have an egg-shaped head, and has a gray, not black, mustache—attributes which are used to describe Poirot in almost every novel.

In addition to Branagh’s stellar performance, the film nails many other aspects of this eerie mystery. The score was composed by Patrick Doyle, who, in addition to other movies, has worked extensively with Branagh on some of his Shakespeare adaptations. The two clearly have artistic synergy, which shines through in the exotic, ominous, and compelling tones of the soundtrack. The costumes are crisp, clean, and above all, accurate to the time and place of the story. The film features a very diverse cast, a definite step up from previous versions.

Despite all that Death on the Nile gets right, there are a couple of aspects in which it falls short. The first of these is the inclusion of a few comedic one-liners, spoken by Poirot, which feel uncomfortably out of character. For example (and I paraphrase), when confronted with the statement that “he [Poirot] accuses everyone of murder,” Poirot responds with: “it is a problem, I admit.” On the surface, this is a completely acceptable, lighthearted line, obviously meant to solicit a few chuckles. Other lines like this appear periodically, and it’s understandable why the script writers included them: to create moments of mild humor in an otherwise bleak plot. The problem in this instance, however, is not Poirot’s frequency of murder accusations, it’s that Poirot, at least Christie’s Poirot from the books, is much too smug and prideful to concede that he has any kind of problem, and thus would never utter that line in the first place. In general, these one-liners create minor discrepancies between the established style and character of Poirot and Branagh’s modern interpretation. In moments such as these, Poirot just doesn’t feel right; Poirot doesn’t feel like Poirot. Admittedly, to someone who’s never read the books, this is a non-issue, and it should be made very clear that this is quite possibly the only flaw in Branagh’s Poirot. However, die-hard fans of the original books may find this too egregious a misstep.

The other significant flaw of this movie is the almost sickening pervasiveness of sexual innuendo. With the story’s two main subjects being aristocratic newlyweds having a grand time on a party boat in Egypt, at least some mention of bedroom happenings is to be expected. But the annoying extent to which said characters being frisky gets screen time adds absolutely nothing to the story. It’s unsettling to watch and quickly gets old. Thankfully, though, this only lasts for the first third or so of the movie.

Branagh has hinted at directing more Christie adaptations for the big screen in the future, possibly even creating a modern Christie cinematic universe. This is big news for Christie fans, as past television and film adaptations have varied in quality and consistency. This could also broaden the scope of the fan base, with Branagh’s all-star casts attracting a variety of audiences.

All in all, Branagh’s second Christie adaptation checks ninety-nine percent of the boxes for a definitive standard of the story. Death on the Nile offers audiences an intriguing and puzzling mystery with a rewarding ending. Fans of the genre should not miss it.