Death on the Nile (2022)

I’ve been an Agatha Christie fan since 6th or 7th grade so I’m always excited (and nervous) when there’s a new version of one of her stories.  Death on the Nile (2022) is actor/director Kenneth Branagh’s sophomore outing into Christie’s world as he once again brings Hercule Poirot to the big screen. I admit to being apprehensive after 2017's Murder on the Orient Express fell woefully short of my expectations (too silly and poor utilization of the cast), but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see this. Plus, I needed to get out of the house for a couple of hours for my own piece of mind.

DotN starts off with a nicely done deep dive into Poirot through a beautifully shot black and white prologue of him as a young man in 1914. A surprise that not only humanizes the Belgian super-sleuth, but sets the overall tone, themes, and mind set for the film. We also get a back story for the infamous moustache. Nice.

Flashing forward to “current” day, 1937, we catch up with the now wildly lauded Poirot at a London speakeasy and set the wheels in motion for the case ahead.  The setup, meeting of the players, etc. culminating in the whodunnit titular death. 

As for the film, DotN is certainly a step up on its predecessor.  While there’s definitely an element of humor things don’t fall into pure silliness.  The utilization of the cast plays out better too.  You’re given all the players and their score cards early on instead of the last minute. It still falls a bit short for some, however, the characters are better fleshed out and get to shine more this go around (Murder on the Orient Express you had half the cast or more you knew zip about until halfway through the film). Not too surprising given the likes of Annette Bening, Jennifer Saunders, and Sophie Okonedo to name a few. The costuming and cinematography are simply put, gorgeous and create a richness that make the story leap off the screen. 

While a solid film in more ways than not, what makes it good and not great is the pacing.  Death on the Nile (2022) clocks in with a two hour and 7-minute runtime that unfortunately feels much longer. 

After the opening prologue things lag and drag until I was feeling like this must be a Dune (2021) thing.  I became antsy and restless wondering if we actually going to get TO the Nile let alone actually have a death or two, or... Kind of hard to maintain a level of interest or excitement for a murder mystery (I don’t think it’s a I already know thing) if there’s no murder to be solved.  Fortunately, once the bodies started dropping the pace picks up, interest rebounds, and the real fun begins.  

I won’t be a bit surprised if Branagh opts to do a third installment of this franchise.  Fingers crossed if that’s the case, the third one proves to be the charm and knocks my socks off.  As for Death on the Nile (2022), if you want to get out of the house for a bit, you can do worse than seeing this one.  Otherwise, you may want to wait and watch it at home.

Death on the Nile (2022) it gets a 6 from me.