In making an effective murder mystery piece, two essential ingredients are required in making it a successful effort with the first being a reliable cast who brings believability to the story and the second being the skillfulness of a talented director, who can craft a slick thriller that's engaging from start to finish. With 2017's Murder On The Orient Express, director Kenneth Branagh delivered a stylish remake to its classic predecessor that boasted an all-star cast which made it enormously fun to watch along with the latters craftsmanship as a director. Five years later, Branagh gives audiences another Clue-style mystery with Death On The Nile. Boasting a new ensemble cast, the sequel builds on the originals established world, while painting a more intimate portrait of its main detective.
Based on Agatha Christie's best-selling novel of the same name, Nile's plot brings back the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) with him investigating the death of an heiress (Gal Gadot) during her honeymoon in Egypt. While doing so, he must discover the identity of the killer before he/she strikes again. What made the previous film fun to watch was not just its striking visual scenery, but Branagh utilizing his impressive cast to maximum effect while creating suspicion with each character, making it hard to uncover the killers identity. Nile maintains its predecessors look and grandeur while presenting a new story that's old-fashioned and solidly entertaining overall. If one found themselves having tremendous amounts of fun watching Orient Express, they'll be shocked to discover that they'll enjoy Nile even more.
When it comes to performances, Nile's cast is fantastic with everyone delivering exceptional work, as well as being surprising in some cases. With the sizable ensemble, the audience has Branagh to guide them through the story as detective Hercule Poirot. He plays his character as being extremely observant and able to put together clues in solving cases. Arnie Hammer delivers strong work as Simon Doyle, husband of wealthy Linnet and Jacqueline's former lover. Gal Gadot gives a fine performance as Simon's wife and former friend of Jacqueline, Linnet. Gadot makes her character not only beautiful and captivating, but also fearful of her husband's former lover plotting to do harm on them. Emma Mackey shines as Linnet's jealous former friend Jacqueline with Mackey showing obvious anger and obsession towards the newly wed couple. The rest of the cast presents strong work with Tom Bateman as Poirot's friend and confidant Bouc, with Annette Bening doing equally well as Bouc's mother and renowned painter Euphemia. Other performances include Letita Wright as Linnet's old classmate and Bouc's lover Rosalie with Jennifer Saunders as Linnet's godmother Marie. Russell Brand is completely unrecognizable as Aristocratic doctor Linus Windlesham, whose later revealed to be Linnet's former fiance. The rest of the cast is noteworthy with Ali Fazal as Linnet's cousin and lawyer Andrew, Dawn French as Mrs. bowers, Rose Leslie as Linnet's lady's maid Louise, Sophie Okonedo as Rosalie's aunt and Jazz singer Salome, and Susannah Fielding and Poirot's deceased former lover Katherine. As a whole, Nile's cast is both glittering and effective.
With directing, Branagh gives the sequel the same lavish production that Express had with the film boasting gorgeous cinematography accompanied by remarkable set and costume designs. The film carries an exotic production which gives it a strong presence in the story, almost to the point of feeling like a character itself with the Egyptian setting heavily influencing the plot. Along with the films visual style, Branagh presents the story with the same style of wit and humor that was prevalent in Orient Express. He keeps the story moving at a steady pace while building the suspense with making each character suspectible to murder. In comparison to his work previously, Branagh crafts a slicker, more visually appealing, and tightly-paced murder mystery while appearing to have a total blast in doing so.
When it comes to writing, Nile faithfully adapts Christie's work in thrilling form while providing a compelling character study. Whereas audiences received little background with Hercule Poirot's character in Orient Express, Branagh goes further here with providing a tragic backstory to his character that covers his service during World War l with an opening sequence that shows him receiving a facial wound that led him to mask it with his mustache. It's also revealed that his past lover, a World War l nurse named Katherine, was tragically killed during the War. Along with exploring Poirot's character, the story places the characters of Simon, Linnet, and Jacqueline front and center with their melodrama serving as the spark that ignites the events in the story. The audience sees the amount of jealousy that Jacqueline holds for Simon choosing Linnet over her with the tension between the trio building up. The stories first half is spent appropriately setting up the characters, giving everyone a motive for Linnet's murder while pushing the audience to have a greater emotional attachment to Poirot. In doing so, the script succeeds while making the other characters just as richly painted as the ones from Orient Express. The core of Nile's story however, is stronger with the killers reveal being a complete surprise, along with the final scenes significance for Poirot's character being emotionally satisfying in bringing his character arc full circle.
As a story which shows that love can drive people to extremes, Nile's is hugely effective and visually striking, making it hard for audiences not to enjoy. Everything that audiences found themselves enjoying about the original film is on display here with the sequel not only being engaging but also serving as a striking visual feast. Combined with a terrific all-star cast and Branagh's profound love and admiration for Agatha Christie's work, Death On The Nile proves itself to be a brilliant follow-up to Murder. As Linnet's character proclaims in the film with there being "enough champagne to fill the Nile", audiences will believe so as there's enough witty dialogue and who-dunnit suspense present to make for an thrilling ride.
Final Verdict: If one enjoyed Kenneth Branagh's remake of Murder On The Orient Express, they'll find themselves enjoying Death On The Nile just as much or even more.
Images Courtesy Of 20th Century Fox Studios
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