Review of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) by Nikolayg — 01 Mar 2018

I'm conflicted about this movie. First - On the one hand, it is beautiful to look at, on the other hand, most of the external shots (though each one is brief) look pretty but also fake, like they are mostly or entirely computer generated or painted or something, but certainly not 100% actual shots of trains passing through scenery.

There's a Harry Potter-esque look to it all. Second - Poirot does not look like Poirot as described in the books. But whatever. I can get over that. If it was Sherlock Holmes I'd have a harder time accepting such a different appearance, but I'm not nearly as accustomed to seeing Poirot portrayed on screen so it didn't bother me much.

Third - There MANY CHANGES to the story in the book. Most of these changes are for the purpose of adding short moments of mindless action to the movie. I did not appreciate them. However, one large change at the end really did add more drama in a good way, though the change strained credibility.

Fourth, I always found the book a little confusing regarding who was whom. It didn't do the best job of keeping everything straight. You needed a pad of paper and pen to make a list or chart as you read, at least I did.

The movie is far better at being clear in this way; maybe that's just the natural result of seeing actual faces put to each character. The movie also revealed the solution to the mystery in a way that was more appropriate.

The book felt rushed at the end. The movie, by devoting a greater proportion of its overall time to setting out the solution, and by dramatizing the crime being committed on screen as Poirot explained it, did a better job with this final part of the story.

On the whole, I suspect the older movie version (which I saw ages ago) is more true to the Agatha Christie's novel, but this version does have its improvements, sprinkled among its misguided action bits.