This is the second Hercule Poirot detective film directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh.  Curiously, both this title and its predecessor, Murder on the Orient Express, were remakes of films from the 1970s.  I don’t understand why Branagh didn’t start with fresh titles instead of remaking the Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov originals.  Is Evil Under the Sun next?  Or Appointment with Death?  Ustinov made three made-for-TV movies as Poirot as well, so it may be a while before we see something completely new.  And, of course, David Suchet has played all of them in his British TV series.  But I’ll say this for Mr. Branagh’s productions: they are class acts.

Kenneth Branagh’s film begins with an introduction of Poirot (Branagh) during World War I, then jumps ahead to 1937 London, where the now famous detective bears witness to the passing of a romantic torch.  Six weeks later he is in Egypt with an unexpected newlywed couple.  When an uninvited visitor appears on the scene, the newlyweds and their party of about a dozen friends take over an Egyptian steamship, the Karnak, for a private trip up the Nile.  The scenery is gorgeous, but the trip is spoiled by a sudden murder.  Then another, and yet another.  Poirot must be at his best to solve the killings, because he is mixed up to his fancy mustache in the mayhem.

I saw the Ustinov films back in the day but don’t remember them very well, except that they had a comic edge.  The aspect that I most admire with these Branagh versions is that the deaths are serious; indeed, they are tragic.  There is no campiness or dark humor about the situation.  Each of the victims deserved to live and was killed with malice aforethought.  Murder is serious business and this film acknowledges this, to its great credit.  I did not guess the identity of the killer, probably because I was trying to outthink the script.  It is very suspenseful, especially in the final dénouement.  The other aspect I really appreciate is that it isn’t just about the killings.  The movie is a travelogue of Egyptian beauty, including views of the Pyramids of Giza, as well as a drama of personal relationships.  Sure, some of them have been simplified or changed from the book to the film, but everything holds together very nicely, with real impact in some of the sequences.

Even though I really liked the first Branagh venture as Poirot I wasn’t expecting much from the second.  I was wrong; it is a good, solid, involving, engrossing film.  Branagh is splendid as the Belgian sleuth, with excellent ensemble work from Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Sophie Okenedo, Tom Bateman and others.  It is superior to the Ustinov version, and has provided Branagh with another stellar directing achievement, in an already storied career.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  1 March 2022.