‘Death On The Nile’ review: Old-school whodunit that should float your boat

Despite a pace as languid as the river it is set on, Kenneth Branagh’s portrayal of Hercule Poirot is good enough to justify watching this mystery unfold in the cinema. – Photos: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

We knew this movie was coming the moment Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot got a message at the end of 2017’s Murder On The Orient Express asking him to travel to Egypt to investigate a ‘murder on the bloody Nile’.

What we didn’t know then was how long it would take for this movie to finally be released, thanks to a combination of a global pandemic and a recent scandal involving one of its stars. In a way, the whole ‘will it be released or not’ mystery actually managed to pique my interest in the movie more.

Like Orient Express, Death On The Nile is directed by Branagh himself, and takes place aboard the S.S. Karnak, a cruise ship sailing down the River Nile, where wealthy heiress Linnet Doyle (Gal Gadot) is having her honeymoon with her new husband Simon (the recently scandal-hit Armie Hammer), and a bevy of other friends and family members. But a threat on her life prompts Linnet to invite Poirot along for the ride, and sure enough, a tragic murder is commited aboard the ship and the detective must use all his little grey cells to solve the mystery.

The other members of the cast include Tom Bateman (reprising his role as Poirot’s friend Bouc from the first film), Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, and Letitia Wright.

Wait, didn't I film this exact same scene in Wonder Woman?

With endless mediocre, cookie cutter crime procedurals on television peddling predictable ‘mysteries’ that are often solved with just a convenient strand of hair and a microscope, a film like Death On The Nile seems like a relic of the past. Well, it IS based on a novel published in 1937 after all, and though Christie is a master of murder mysteries, it can be hard to translate her stories to film.

Just ask Branagh, who just barely managed to pull it off in 2017 with Orient Express, thanks to a combination of the already strong whodunit that Christie had written, and his own portrayal of the indomitable Belgian detective. That movie did well enough box office numbers that this sequel was greenlit, but does he manage to repeat the trick with Death Of The Nile? Well, yes and no.

While the crime aboard the Orient Express was arguably one of Christies best ever plots, Death On The Nile’s central murder mystery is more predictable and clear-cut, and required the author to rely on multiple red herrings and misdirection in order to make it work. While that technique works on a 200-plus page novel, Branagh struggles somewhat to pull it off here, which results in a mystery that isn't quite as mysterious as it should be.

Like its 2017 predecessor 'The Murder On The Orient Express', Death On The Nile stars a stellar ensemble cast as well.

With a pace as languid as the river it is set upon, the movie takes its time building up towards the actual crime, which is admittedly quite frustrating at first, but once the game is afoot, the pace picks up considerably.

All this is understandable, as Christie was never been one of the more, well, exciting of writers. Her most famous creations, Poirot and Miss Marple, exercise their little grey cells more than they do other other parts of their bodies, so action icons they are not.

But Christie was in a league of her own when it came to these sort of mind games – from the elaborate settings, the exquisite buildups, to the engaging interviews, the endless red herrings, and finally, the exhilarating reveal of the murder. It’s a formula that served her well in her novels, but also one that does not quite translate so well to a full-length feature film.

That doesn’t mean Death On The Nile is not worth a watch though. If anything, it is a refreshing change in pace from the usual CGI-heavy blockbusters, especially if you are a fan of the good old murder mystery genre. And just like the first film, Branagh’s portrayal of Poirot is good enough to justify actually watching this mystery unfold in the cinema.