Hercule Poirot -"Oh Mr. Dickens....hahaha"
The Short: In a fit of old-school storytelling, tradition, and historical style, Murder On The Orient Express was conceived to show-off character performance, ensemble acting, and the power of subtlety. (These are all the things I enjoy!) Unfortunately, despite all of the successes of the excellent cast, production, storytelling, and classic techniques, the whole movie seems wildly mismatched and out of touch. -falling flat only in that the audience has changed (including me). Needless, I am left asking if clinging to my cinematic vanity points is worthwhile.
Musing: At my heart, I may be a reductionist. I like it when the story, and characters are contained. It creates pressure and tension seamlessly. -Agatha Christie was a master of this. (The bridge is out. The cabin is snowed in. The train is derailed -We'll have to find the murderer ourselves). So, having read the book, I knew that I was in for a contained story, with a brilliant, meticulous set, with limited CGI, and character drama. The use of above head shots and the train construction were my favorite parts.
Seriously, what an All-Star cast! Derek Jacobi has to play the Butler. Johnny Depp has to play the corpse. It's sad that the low performance was Josh Gad.
But the winner of all things in my opinion was Poirot's moustache.
One thing that I think upends Murder On the Orient Express is the dissonance between the movie and the trailer Trailer. It's just sold in the wrong way to jibe with the older style cinema on screen.
2.7 out of 5 stars. It's like watching a grand old ship of the line sink in the harbor; glorious, but ultimately surpassed.
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