‘Death on the Nile’ movie review: Comme ci, comme ça

All who enjoy Agatha Christie novels for the cleverly put-together puzzles and familiar characters, are sure to be disappointed with this version

For all who have been waiting with bated breath for the sequel to Kenneth Branagh’s The Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile finally steams in two years late. Has the wait been worth it? Comme ci, comme ça, would be my reply.

Though the film was not shot in Egypt (CGI and Morocco to the rescue), some of the establishing shots are lovely. The costumes are exquisite and it is always fun to watch a glittering, glitzy ensemble cast do their thing. Death on the Nile, however, falls short by several degrees on the mystery side. Based on Agatha Christie’s eponymous novel, this is the third adaptation following the 1978 film with Peter Ustinov as Poirot and an episode in Agatha Christie’s Poirot with David Suchet.

All who enjoy Christie novels for the cleverly put-together puzzles and familiar characters, are sure to be disappointed with this version which spends time on a back story for Poirot’s (Branagh) magnificent moustaches and lost love—no, not the Countess Rossakoff, and not much on clues, suspects and Poirot exercising his little grey cells.