Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot Trilogy Review – Which One’s Best?

Being a fan of a creator is easy, in fact, in many ways, it’s fun appreciating what they bring to the table, and a lot of people have unique niches and subsects they belong to, but what if you get the opportunity to wield the power to direct how the world sees that creation?

The very thing happened to filmmaker and actor Kenneth Branagh when he was handed the reigns to adapting the works of Agatha Christie that focused on her recurring detective character, Hercule Poirot in 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express based on the novel of the same name, which was successful enough to spawn two sequels, 2022’s Death on the Nile (based loosely on the original novel and various others) and the recently released A Haunting in Venice (which was loosely adapted from Halloween Party by Christie).

Personally, I have not read the source material at hand or the earlier film adaptations, but from what I have seen, with most cases regarding this material, the changes were minor or much needed. So without further ado, here is a review of the three whodunnit films produced under 20th Century Studios and Branagh.

Movie 1: Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

For all intents and purposes, this was surprisingly pretty good. As someone with limited familiarity with the source material, this was an interesting foray into the root of most modern mystery fiction that I enjoy such as Knives Out or any crime procedural show such as Law and Order or Numb3rs.

Sure it’s not flawless but Branagh goes for spectacle and it delivers between the character ties, the costume design, and the setpieces.

My only real gripes are with Johnny Depp as Ratchett. I want to praise more about the movie, but most of what I want to say comes down to praising individual performers who did exceptional with the material such as the always excellent Willem Dafoe and Michelle Pfeiffer, but also surprisingly Josh Gad.

It’s just a solid movie, it’s not perfect, but it’s a damn good watch, Murder on the Orient Express is a 7/10.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Movie 2: Death on the Nile (2022)

It’s funny in a weird way, as this was set to come out, the movie’s actual villain turned out to be a freak in real life and they had to hyper-edit around him in all the marketing materials. Unlike its predecessor that breathed life back into a fading genre, this wears on its sleeve the convoluted, the sleazy, and the obvious hallmarks of the worst of its kind.

Armie Hammer is pretty awful in this, as is Gal Gadot unsurprisingly, but despite their best efforts, the movie is just fine. It’s not on par with the first Branagh-helmed title, but it functions as a serviceable 6/10.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Movie 3: A Haunting in Venice (2023)

Far and away the best in this series, it really is true about the third time being the charm. Every actor brings their A-grade material, especially Branagh himself, Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey, and to my utter shock and amazement, Jamie Dorman.

This movie also cleverly rides the line between what’s the supernatural and what’s the explainable, and it really worked to its benefit, keeping some mystery alive, some hope and that’s important as much for Poirot himself that a definitive answer isn’t given.

In fact, this movie has a really good story for our sleuth with a stache as he wrestles with the fact that he’s seen so much death in his life and none of it mattered and he’s now forcing himself away from what he loves, what he excels at, because he thinks he’s past his prime, truly.

There’s also just really creative stuff done with the direction, from the seance to the camera going handheld in the catacombs, to something tied to a reveal late in the film, it’s all masterfully done.

The only thing that annoyed me was the child character, I understood the why, I just didn’t enjoy it, but even that doesn’t take away from how good this is.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Final Thoughts

These are perfectly fine movies and if this latest excursion is any indication, a movie that takes the source material in the broadest of senses, I’d really be curious to see what it would look like for this creative team to helm a wholly original mystery for the fourth film that continues this story.

One story ending is another beginning, that’s what this whole adventure has taught me, no matter how hard we run from the calling we have we attract it to us, to paraphrase Sum 41, you can’t fight it, so you might as well embrace it and see where it takes you in all forms.