Review - Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

               Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, with tomorrow's release of Death on the Nile, I decided to take a look at director Kenneth Branagh's 2017 film Murder on the Orient Express. This film stars Kenneth Branagh, Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr, Daisy Ridley, Derek Jacobi, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Willem Dafoe, Lucy Boynton, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Sergei Polunin, Tom Bateman, and Johnny Depp, and is based on the murder-mystery novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. 

        So, we start off with private detective Hercule Poirot, who has been requested to investigate the theft of a rare relic in the city of Jerusalem. After solving the case, and having the local police chief arrested for the theft, Poirot then takes his leave to a ferry to Istanbul. It is at the ferry where he meets a governess named Mary Debenham, who is traveling with Dr. Arbuthnot to catch a train in Istanbul. 

         The train in question is the Orient Express, where Poirot's friend Bouc is the nephew of the train's director. At an Istanbul bakery run by another of Poirot's friends, Bouc personally guarantees Poirot a ride on the Orient Express, where along with Debenham and Arbuthnot, passengers include Princess Natalia Dragomiroff and her maid Hildegarde Schmidt, Professor Gerhard Hardman, Count Rudolph Andreyni and Countess Elena Andreyni, car salesman Biniamino Marquez, socialite widow Caroline Hubbard, missionary Pilar Estravados, and notorious gangster Edward Ratchett and his assistants Edward Masterman and Hector McQueen, with one of the conductors on duty being a gentleman named Pierre Michel. 

        So as the train travels on its long journey, Poirot mingles with the other passengers, when Ratchett tries to pay off Poirot to protect him for the rest of the train ride, but Poirot ultimately refuses. One night, however, a massive avalanche causes the train to derail and get buried under a thick blanket of snow, and it's discovered the next morning that Ratchett was murdered, multiple stab wounds all over his body. Bouc pleads for Poirot to investigate, as the police would frame an innocent person of the crime, potentially the likes of Marquez or Dr. Arbuthnot. Poirot agrees, and informs the other passengers of what happened, and that he will question them all in time. 

      So, Poirot goes about his investigation, and discovers some clues, and realizes that the case isn't as simple as he thought it would be, as Ratchett's real name was John Cassetti, who years ago kidnapped and murdered a child named Daisy Armstrong, the daughter of Col. John Armstrong and his wife Sonia. Apparently, they paid Cassetti the ransom for Daisy's safe return, but he killed her anyway, and the shock sent Sonia into premature labor, and she and her unborn child both didn't survive, and the Colonel committed suicide. 

           It's also revealed that everyone had a connection to the Armstrongs in some fashion, or had a connection to the case surrounding the Armstrongs. For example, McQueen is revealed to (a) have been stealing from Cassetti the whole time, and (b) is the son of the disgraced district attorney who was pressured into framing the case on the Armstrongs maid Susanne, sister of Pierre Michel. We also learn Professor Hardman is actually an American detective named Cyrus Hardman, and the Countess Elena Andreyni was actually Helena, sister of Sonia Armstrong. Some time later, when the train is about to finally be put back on the rails to get moving again, Poirot meets with Debenham, who is revealed to have been Daisy's governess, and she doesn't shy away from her involvement in the murder of Cassetti. However, Dr. Arbuthnot steps in and reveals some information: a conversation between himself and Debenham was to turn Cassetti into the police, but one look led Arbuthnot to know that just handing Cassetti over to the police wasn't good enough, so he killed him out of loyalty to Col. Armstrong, whom Arbuthnot served alongside during the war, and the Colonel ultimately put Arbuthnot through college and medical school, allowing him to become a doctor. 

        Finally putting the puzzle together, Poirot confronts all of the passengers with two theories: (1) a rogue assailant with a conductor's uniform and passkey snuck into the train to kill Cassetti and leave with minimal trace, and (2) each passenger had a connection to the Armstrongs or the Armstrong case. And here are the connections: 

      1. Dr. Arbuthnot served alongside Col. Armstrong in the war and was his friend. 

      2. Princess Natalia Dragomiroff was Daisy's godmother. Also, Dragomiroff's maid Schmidt was the Armstrong's cook.

      3. Estravados was the nurse who had overdrank the night Cassetti kidnapped Daisy, and feels responsible for what happened. 

      4. McQueen was the son of the D.A. who lost his credibility when he framed Susanne, sister of Pierre Michel. And by the way, Hardman had fallen in love with Susanne while he was investigating the case. 

      5. Helena Andreyni was Sonia's sister, making the Count Rudolph Andreyni Sonia's brother-in-law.

      6. Marquez was the Armstrongs chauffeur.

      7. Masterman was the Colonel's batman during the was, and later became the Armstrong family's valet. 

     8. Mrs. Hubbard is the long thought missing actress Linda Arden, mother of Sonia and Helena, and grandmother of Daisy. 

         Ultimately, with so many people emotionally scarred by Cassetti and his actions in kidnapping and killing young Daisy Armstrong, Poirot reveals that the murder wasn't done by any individual, but by all of them working together. Arden reveals that she brought them together, having Masterman and McQueen working for Cassetti, booking passage on the train for everyone with Michel on duty as conductor, and killing Cassetti for his crime. Upon arrival at the next station, Poirot offers the first theory of a rogue assailant to the police, letting the other passengers go on their way to hopefully find some semblance of peace in their lives. A local authority arrives to take Poirot to London in regards to a new murder: one that occurred on the Nile. 

          Okay, so I personally haven't read Agatha Christie's original novel. However, this version was the first adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express that I saw, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Kenneth Branagh's directing is absolutely fantastic, and the sweeping location shots and just the cinematography overall is absolutely stunning. Seriously, this movie needs to be seen based on the cinematography alone. 

       But what is cinematography in a movie without good acting to back it up? And honestly, the acting on all fronts is, for the most part, really good. Kenneth Branagh definitely works as Hercule Poirot, and the rest of the cast is absolutely fantastic. Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Willem Dafoe, Michelle Pfeiffer, Derek Jacobi, and Johnny Depp are all absolutely top notch in this movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of the likes of Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr, Lucy Boynton, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Sergei Polunin, and Tom Bateman, with my favorite performance being that of Daisy Ridley. And remember, this movie came out the month before the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and I think that Daisy was better in this movie as Mary Debenham than she was as Rey in Star Wars. 

         Overall, this is a really good movie with great acting ensemble, beautiful cinematography, and a thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery that is easy to follow but just complex enough to keep casual viewers guessing. I'm going to give Murder on the Orient Express a rating of 5/5. 

      This is Chuck signing off. Join me tomorrow with my review of Death on the Nile, as well as my review of I Am Legend for Will Smith Month. Anyway, see you guys then.