I think Kenneth Branagh must really love portraying the iconic Hercule Poirot because I never expected there would be three of these films. In this one, we have a retired Poirot in Venice, Italy, staying away from people who are asking for his help to solve mysteries. He’s visited by Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), an Agatha Christie-like novelist friend of Poirot who is trying to get him out of retirement as he helped inspire many of her best-selling books, and she needs a new one. She asks him to attend a séance with her at the home of Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), who recently lost her daughter to suicide but fears her soul is trapped in her home. While Poirot is a non-believer in such things, Oliver might’ve finally been convinced of the powers of medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh). While Poirot seemingly disproves her powers, things go awry when Reynolds is brutally tossed onto a statue, impaling her as Poirot is recovering from an attempt to drown him in an apple-bobbing bowl. The mystery is now on, and Poirot has to unretire for the night to find the murderer, who must still be in this home and brought to justice.
I think for me I enjoy these movies because they feel almost like a throwback to a type of movie that used to just be in the theaters all the time. Even though it is a franchise and it is based on “IP,” having a series of movies that just have new entries over time based on different books that may or may not be closely adapted was a pretty damn good norm to have. Branagh, who directs and stars in all three of these, has finally settled into his version of the character. For me, I still think of the character being played by David Suchet, but at this point, I do like this version. This Poirot is still being affected by the events of the Death on the Nile, and Branagh really plays it well, as you can still feel the effects of that on his character. This film again has a great cast of actors, and Branagh, with Fey as Oliver as she’s played like a plucky, take no nonsense American writer, is a good foil and partner for Poirot in this film as he’s not always explaining things to her and instead conversing with her about events.
It was good to see Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill again in this as father and son, as they were great in Branagh’s Belfast. They both getting to play against their last roles with him as director. Camille Cottin really is entertaining as the over-the-top housekeeper Olga Seminoff; the big performance worked well in this story. Yeoh is good but is also the big star that needs to die in these movies to get the mystery going, and she does that well. What really stood out to me was the filmmaking. The shift in tone for this one to be more of a horror-like movie and horror in an older sense than a modern post-slasher sense. The use of angles, lighting, and editing gives you a feel of older filmmaking of the mid-20th century. Great use of the facial close-up and keeping things at the right part of the frame to keep you guessing a bit. It’s just some real solid meat and potatoes filmmaking that I’m starting to miss in a lot of stuff I see in the theater. I liked this film a lot, and I do hope they continue to make more of these, but who knows with the way show business is going.
Score: B+
RIOTUS 