Death on the Nile (2022)

Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) boards a glamorous river steamer with enough champagne to fill the Nile. But his Egyptian vacation turns into a thrilling search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.

DEATH ON THE NILE is Kenneth Branagh’s second Agatha Christie adaptation and it’s better than the first one. The overacting by Branagh in the first one is gone in this one and his portrayal of Hercule Poirot is more nuanced. The cast is better, and the story is told in a way one would expect of an Agatha Christie novel.

The movie does take a little too long to get to the murder we’ve been waiting for but, when it arrives, the pace picks up. The dialogue is clever and is the string that holds the whole parcel together.

The character development is excellent, and the perpetrator of the crime is genuinely difficult to predict. It’s a clever plot that keeps us guessing right to the end.

The cinematography is superb and is filmed on location in Egypt with some stunning shots of the area.

Agatha Christie didn’t provide much of a backstory for Poirot in her novels. So, one is invented for this movie, and you’ll get to find out why Poirot has that massive moustache of his!

In one moment of the film, Poirot says that “The romance of the desert has the power to seduce.” If you like Agatha Christie stories, I’m sure you’ll be seduced. If it wasn’t for the slow first half, I would have given this a higher score. Even so, it’s worth a trip to the cinema.

(In cinemas in Australia – check your movie guide for your local show times.)

OTHER MOVIES I’VE SEEN: 

• Benedetta (2021) – **** – based on a true story and explores the relationship between sexual freedom and faith.
• Blacklight (2022) – **½ – same old Liam Neeson in the same sort of movie.