REVIEW #147 Death on The Nile (2022)

Death on The Nile is the latest project directed by Kenneth Branagh and it is based on the novel of the same name. The story is a typical ‘who done it’ murder mystery as a newly wed couples extravagant honeymoon is cut short by tragedy upon the river Nile in the Egypt.

CAST & THE ACTING 

It’s fair to say that Death on The Nile certainly isn’t lacking in talent, with a huge array of Hollywood stars making up the cast ensemble. Kenneth Branagh plays the notorious detective Hercule Poirot and he is definitely one of the stand out performances! He captures the essence of mystery yet his mannerisms and physical movement tell the audience a whole story about his character, it was executed very well. The newlywed couple Simon Doyle and Linnet Ridgeway were played by Armie Hammer and Gal Gadot and I just found their performances so cringeworthy, that could be down to the writing and the dialogue rather than the acting itself but they were an extremely irritating pair. Emma Mackey played the previous flame of Simon Doyle, I was very excited to see her cast in this film and she didn’t disappoint, she performed very well. The other cast members include the likes of Russel Brand, Rose Leslie, Letitia Wright, Annette Bening and Dawn French just to name a few. For the most part they all performed well. The acting was a strong point for the film but unfortunately the majority of the cast didn’t have much to do, which I will touch in further in the next category.

THE STORYLINE 

This part will include spoilers so don’t read this section if you haven’t seen it yet! Everyone knows what to expect with murder mysteries, for me the key for the film to be a success is to surprise me. Unfortunately Death on The kind of does that… but not in a good way. As soon as it was revealed that Simone Doyle had married Linnet, I hoped that they wouldn’t go with the obvious choice of him being the killer. Well that’s exactly what they did and that surprised me because it just seems like lazy writing. It’s based on a novel which I haven’t read, so I guess those who have, knew what was coming but it left me disappointed to say the least. 

I liked the characters, there was a wide variety of people that the audience could both love and hate, something for everyone. Unfortunately we hardly saw any of them, they just waited to be called up to give their monologue and back they went to the room in which they sat for the majority of the trip. It wasted such a talented cast. The flashbacks involving the detective provided some brief context for the character, however despite it being brief it did actually set strong groundwork for his character, something that explained his psyche later in the film.  

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS

It was definitely hit and miss with this category, there were moments that produced some beautiful visuals that lit up the cinema but at other times the blue screen was so obvious that the background almost looked like a cartoon. Unfortunately they couldn’t shoot on location which would explain why the blue screen was used so often. I liked the soundtrack, it perfectly matched the time in which the film is set (1930’s). Similarly the costume design also reflected that time period well and I must say style at that time looks a lot better on screen compared to modern fashion. 

OVERALL (6.5/10)

Unfortunately Death on The Nile failed to surprise me when it came to the big killer reveal and that seriously hindered the final score. We don’t see enough of the characters which meant the cast were under utilised, although from what we did get to see, it was executed well. The cinematography was hit and miss but if you can look past the obvious blue screen then you can appreciate the moments that produce some really nice visuals. The cast is excellent, huge names! This makes it all the more frustrating that we didn’t get to see more of them. It’s certainly still a good watch and I would still recommend giving it a go but it wont be the best murder mystery film you’ve ever seen, that’s for sure. 

Thanks for reading.

Callan