When they heard about new version of famous Agatha Christie classic, my friends wailed "oh no, not another one! who's going to watch that?" and than promptly went to cinema to see it. Even with my initial reservations - after all, I have read almost all of Christie's novels and saw enough adaptations - I became curious so I had to see it. First, let me state here that I love Agatha Christie - I think she was genuinely great master of the genre (although not the only one, allegedly there were other popular authors at the time who got forgotten while her work is constantly in print) and her little chamber masterpieces are still continuously attractive to readers. But the idea that her novel can be splashed on the big screen in this day and age of bug-budget extravaganzas means that unfortunately it has to be somehow pumped-up and overblown, after all, action in her novels is usually limited to conversations around the tea table.
As director Kenneth Branagh is fine, if not particularly original or inspired. Since the story happens in the train, he goes for strange camera angles, filming people from above their heads and so on. Occasionally (like in last scene that he places - for no reason - in a tunnel) the movie looks stunning visually and there are lots of spectacular exteriors while the train rushes across the mountains (by the way, nonexistent, real locations are flat grain fields famous as breadbasket) but here lies the catch: Branagh decided to make visually spectacular piece out of what is basically salon murder genre so its all overblown, even the script meanders around original idea (enough to make me wonder is this the same novel I read), not to mention inclusion of black characters (and policemen) well Christie was elderly lady of her times and she knew foreigners only as servants.
On the positive side, acting is excellent indeed. Its one of the best known ensemble extravaganza and naturally very attractive as a showcase of large group of celebrity actors. Johnny Depp is surprisingly effective as bad-mannered gangster haunted by his past and Michelle Pfeiffer stands out as a husband-hunting hussy, while the rest of the cast keeps very well, including always dependable Judi Dench. The weakest link would be Branagh himself who should just do the directorial work, but he also decided to play Poirot himself. Well, its genuinely impossible to improve on David Suchet but Branagh bravely attempts it and doesn't really come off, he is neither fussy or idiosyncratic enough, in fact he occasionally slides into Shakespearian shouts and exclamations and this is not how Christie describes her hero. At least this is not what I remember, its hard to tell now because these movie adaptations have their own lives and everything gets so distorted that I am not even sure anymore. However, David Suchet is God.
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