DEATH ON THE NILE: 4K UHD Blu-ray (2oth Century Studios, 2021) Buena Vista Distributing

Were that Dame Agatha Christie had lived to enjoy the endless revivals of her work on television and in the movies, she might have been given to a pregnant pause over Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile (2022), in which as the picture’s director and star, Branagh once again dons a handlebar moustache to make even the likes of Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp in Tombstone (1996) envious. This remake is a bit of a muddle. Artistically, it’s a sound effort, as no movie made by Branagh is ever a waste of time. Yet, apart from the expert flash and pomp in Jim Clay’s production design, with Haris Zambarloukos’ cinematography frenetically distilled into typical chop-shop edits a la Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, this version of Christie’s second most-celebrated novel (Murder on the Orient Express, likely the first), is somewhat less than satisfying. I am also decidedly NOT a fan of the 'woke' slant here, to alter character's race and situations to mark a stance against presumed racial intolerance. Dame Christie wrote for her times; some may argue, a less enlightened epoch (I disagree), but there it is. Sacrilege, I know, but I still prefer John Guillermin’s lavish affair from 1978, to have starred Peter Ustinov as Christie’s famed Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot. It ought to be noted, neither Ustinov nor Branagh bears an uncanny resemblance to that titular and finicky hero as Christie so described. No, that honor remains with David Suchet – the only actor to have effectively bottled the essence of Poirot and starred in an adaptation of every one of Christie’s Poirot mysteries, made poignant and pure for the BBC between 1989 and 2013. So, my appreciation for Ustinov’s effort over even Suchet’s (which I also enjoyed) is blasphemy.

But Branagh’s Death on the Nile just seems the slightest of all three versions. Screenwriter, Michael Green has remained incredibly faithful to Christie’s 1937 novel – perhaps, too faithful to make it a successful transition to celluloid. And it should be pointed out that the finale to Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017) created a totally irrelevant embarkation point on which to kick-start this follow-up. At the end of ‘Orient Express’ a British officer approaches Poirot with a thumbnail of a murder already to have taken place on the Nile. Really? Linnet Ridgeway has met with foul play? What? No backstory? How does this make any sense at all? This version of Death on the Nile costars Tom Bateman (as Bouc), Annette Bening (as his mother, Euphemia), Russell Brand (a sort of island-hopping Doc Windlesham), Ali Fazal (Katchadourian), Dawn French (Bowers), Gal Gadot (the ill-fated and thoroughly bitchy, Linnet Ridgeway), Armie Hammer (a laughably overwrought Simon Doyle), Rose Leslie (Louise Bouget), Emma Mackey (a very cheeky Jacqueline de Bellefort), Sophie Okonedo (doing 9-minutes of a cheap imitation of Diahann Carroll as Salome Otterbourne), Letitia Wright (her sweet daughter, Rosalie) and Jennifer Saunders (Marie Van Schuyler).  It’s a reunion for Branagh and Bateman who appeared in the first movie.

The prologue is set during World War I, where a more vigorous Poirot invents an effective stratagem to advance his Belgian infantry. Tragically, a booby trap disfigures his face. Poirot’s fiancée, Katherine (Susannah Fielding), a nurse, accepts the injury and suggests Hercule cultivate a prominent mustache to conceal his scars. Fast forward to 1937 - a London nightclub, where Poirot observes blues singer, Salome Otterbourne serenading an ebullient Jacqueline de Bellefort, locked in a passionate embrace with her fiancé, Simon Doyle. As fate would have it, Jackie’s best friend, heiress, Linnet Ridgeway arrives and ingratiates herself into Simon’s romantic interests. Aside: the club depicted here makes Dirty Dancing look like a square dance. Advancing again – this time by only six weeks – we arrive in Egypt. Poirot is reunited with Bouc and his mother, Euphemia, a painter critical of his interests in Rosalie. Bouc invites Poirot to celebrate the wedding of Linnet and Simon. Also on the honeymoon, Linnet's maid, Louise Bourget, Salome and her niece Rosalie, Linnet's godmother, Marie Van Schuyler accompanied by her nurse Mrs. Bowers, Linnet's cousin and financial adviser, Andrew Katchadourian, and Doctor Linus Windlesham. Linnet implores Poirot to protect her from Jackie’s obsession. She also confides in Poirot her fear of being surrounded by enemies. A reluctant Poirot agrees to speak to Jackie, but soon discovers she will not back down. She also carries a small pistol in her handbag.

To escape Jackie, Simon and Linnet board the cruise ship, S.S. Karnak. While in Abu Simbel, Bouc confides in Poirot, he has been secretly seeing Rosalie, despite his mother's protestations. Meanwhile, Poirot is interested in Salome. After a boulder nearly crushes Linnet and Simon, the guests discover Jackie has joined their cruise. That evening, an intoxicated Poirot confesses to Jackie he renounced ever finding true love after Katherine died during a mortar explosion. An exacerbated Linnet retires, leaving Simon to confront Jackie. He is promptly shot in the leg, Jackie turning the gun on herself, but spared suicide by Rosalie and Bouc. Assigning Bowers to look after a distraught Jackie, Windlesham attends to Simon’s wound. At dawn, Louise discovers Linnet lying dead in her stateroom from an apparent gunshot to the head, her priceless pearl necklace gone. Poirot, assisted by Simon and Bouc, interrogates the guests. Aside: talk about the fox investigating the hen house! One by one, just as Linnet suspected, each reveals a perverse animosity towards the deceased.  Salome incurred Linnet’s racist remarks some years earlier. Louise begrudged Linnet for intervening in her plans to marry. Windlesham was engaged to Linnet before Simon. Andrew was embezzling from her. The estate of Bower’s late father was decimated by Linnet’s father during the Great Depression, while Van Schuyler, now the beneficiary of Linnet’s will, is secretly Bowers’ lover. Euphemia possibly resented Linnet for introducing Bouc to Rosalie. Poirot, however, has been hired by Euphemia and reveals Rosalie’s character is impeccable.

Disgusted by this revelation, Rosalie storms off, only to discover Louise with her throat slit and still clutching some money in her hand. Poirot deduces Louise must have been blackmailing the killer. Poirot learns Bouc found Linnet dead and stole her necklace to gain financial freedom from his mother, then panicked, hiding the priceless jewelry among Euphemia's belongings. Bouc witnessed Louise's murder. However, before he can reveal all, he is shot dead. Poirot makes chases but finds no killer, only the murder weapon lying on deck. Gathering together the remaining suspects, Poirot reveals Simon, conspiring with his first love, Jackie, murdering his wife to inherit her wealth. Jackie only pretended to shoot Simon with a blank, the injury faked with paint stolen from Euphemia. While Jackie distracted Bouc and Rosalie, Simon murdered Linnet, then muffled the real shot to his own leg with Van Schuyler's scarf. Jackie then killed Louise with Windlesham's scalpel and Bouc with Andrew’s gun. Faced with inevitable incarceration for their grotesque crimes, Jackie embraces her lover, shooting them both with a single bullet. As the passengers disembark, Poirot awkwardly bids Salome farewell. However, six months later, a clean-shaven Poirot arrives at her club to silently watch her in rehearsal, sitting quiet and alone in the dark.

Setting aside the major artistic liberties Michael Green has taken with all of Agatha Christie’s original characters (not one escapes considerable revision and re-conception), this Death on the Nile still feels stilted and stale, especially when compared to the original 1978 star-studded classic. It’s the lack of star quality in this reboot that really hinders its appeal. Outside of Branagh’s Poirot, the only memorable performance comes from Armie Hammer as slippery Simon Doyle. Adding lesbianism and racial tolerance to the mix does nothing for the plot or to heighten the tension. And, inveigling Poirot in an awkward attraction to Salome Ottobourne, who in Christie's world was an odd and miserable creature, is utterly absurd. The needless prologue here delays our arrival to the main set piece by a full 20-minutes, already cutting into the picture’s slender 127-min. run time without contributing anything to the story. I suspect, meeting Poirot’s first love, Katherine, at the outset is meant to humanize the character for us and set up the attraction to Salome later on. But Branagh plays Poirot with an uncannily loveable streak (not at all in keeping with Christie’s original description), and, as though Poirot is quite aware of his own idiosyncratic absurdities and is merely playing to the crowd who expect them from him. The entanglement with Salome, a writer in the original Christie text, who did not survive Simon and Jackie’s murderous assault, is moot. We know from Christie’s other works, Poirot never married or even entertained romantic overtures, save a fleeting crush on Virginie Mesnard in Christie’s short story, The Chocolate Box – an affection unrequited as Mesnard eventually wed Poirot’s good friend instead.

Death on the Nile in 4K looks every bit as satisfying as one would expect.  Earning a solid $136.2 million against its budget of $90 million, Death on the Nile also bucked today’s fashionable trend of going digital. Instead, it was shot in 70mm (actually 65mm) by Haris Zambarloukos, achieving razor sharp detail and vivid colors. Green screen work, alas, looks it – especially in 4K. One sincerely wishes more had been done to achieve a natural-looking verisimilitude. No black crush during the night scenes. Everything here looks utterly fabulous. The Dolby Atmos 7.1 is fairly immersive. There are a few flashy moments for this track to really shines. However, as this is mostly a dialogue-driven affair, don’t expect a lot of spatial separation that makes you go ‘wow’. Still, it sounds wonderfully immersive, capturing the essential ambiance of the piece. There are no extras on the 4K disc. But the accompanying Blu-ray contains brief featurettes, on translating the book to screen for a third time, another 6 mins. discussing Christie’s own love of travel with her work and this movie in particular, 11 mins. on costume design and photography, and just under 6 mins. paying homage to Branagh’s verve to recreate Poirot for today’s generation. Add to this, 11 mins. of deleted scenes and a trailer. Bottom line: despite all its flash and bounce, I still prefer the 1978 original to this reboot. While opinions and tastes may vary, this one isn’t the way I’d like to remember my Agatha Christie. The 4K is perfect. Judge and buy accordingly.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

3

VIDEO/AUDIO

5+

EXTRAS

2.5