Thoughts on: Murder on the Orient Express

The recent Murder on the Orient Express, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh and adapted from Agatha Christie's novel of the same name, left me with mixed feelings. Please note that this piece will include SPOILERS, so if you plan on watching the film, please wait with reading this.

How many award-winning actors can we fit into one train cart? Answer: many.

First and foremost, I'd like to talk about the acting. The star studded cast - including Dame Judi Dench, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz - all did a very solid job at playing their respective roles. Their eccentric elements were very well portrayed and I did feel as if every character had a unique element to it. Their style of acting was reminiscent of that seen on a theatre stage, old school in a way that was both interesting to watch, which I found befitting given the era in which the film is set, as well as the history of the original novel as well.

Another, small thing that I enjoyed was the inclusion of original languages - French and German in particular. To me, films that don't just rely on actors putting on an accent (even though this film did that too) are far more enjoyable to watch. Maybe I'm just used to subtitles, but to me, including original languages in the film makes for a much more verisimilar experience. It grounds it in reality, and thus makes the scene more intriguing. For example, the part in which Hercule Poirot speaks to Hildegard Schmidt (Olivia Coleman) in German to keep Princess Dragomiroff (Judi Dench) out of the loop made for an interesting scene. It could have made for some interesting dynamics between the characters, had all the passengers not (apart from Poirot) been in on the murder.

The colours present throughout the film are genuinely enjoyable to look at.

I have mixed feelings regarding the camerawork and overall visual style. There were some interesting shots and long takes, such as the top-down shots from inside the train cart following the murder, similar to that seen in Kill Bill Vol. 1, as well as the slow trucking shots when Poirot would be interviewing the suspects. Overall, the quality was very solid. However, I did feel that there were an abundance of shallow depth of field, close up shots of each of the characters during the different interrogations with Poirot. I can see the logic in this, though: when people lie, a pretty common thing to look for is their facial expressions, and what better way to portray this than with the close up of someone's face. To me, however, there is more to lying that just your face; body language is just as much a part of lying, and I would have enjoyed seeing more long shots of the characters, to show their full range of emotions and acting capabilities. 

Really, my main issue lies in the dialogue and, to a larger extent, the way in which characters are introduced and how we (the audience) are shown their character traits. At one point during the film, I thought:

"There's enough exposition between characters in this film to rename it "Exposition on the Orient Express"."

Case in point in relation to the use of close ups.

There could have been so many other ways in which you could have portrayed character in 114 minutes of screentime. Little character quirks or hints about what they do for a living can be shown, not told. Having characters literally blurt out everything about themselves isn't engaging at all, and feels like lazy filmmaking -  though some would argue that expository dialogue can be a necessary evil. I would say audiences aren't dumb, and images can speak volumes more than words can. The only instance that I could see relevant to this type of film would be when a character is lying to another (in this case, the passengers lying to Poirot), it makes sense for them to be explaining what they were doing on the night of the murder. 

The film lacks tension, the same form of tension you'd see in films such as Seven or Get Out - hell, even The Thing (also set in a cold, claustrophobic environment) has more tension than this film. It's a shame, because the reality is that it could have had the potential to have been a much more suspenseful and tense film than it ended up becoming. I would argue that suspense is something that relies on suspicion and mistrust between characters. Then again, Murder on the Orient Express has been adapted several times for both theatre and film, so I suppose that there are only so many ways in which you can play the same tune. I would say, however, that it says a lot about the overall structure and pacing of a film when the person sitting next to you falls asleep about 50 or so minutes into the film, only to wake up when the credits begin to roll. And this wasn't at a late screening either.

Kudos again to the art and costume departments for a cracking good job. 

To conclude, I don't think that Murder on the Orient Express is a bad film, but it's not great either. I went to the cinema expecting a tense murder mystery film set on a claustrophobic train journey, and I ended up watching was a strange combination of adventure, mystery and drama. I don't mind films that mix up their overall style and genres into one, but when it loses track of what sort of film it is, it can become a strange mixture that doesn't blend well. The film lacks a tense atmosphere otherwise present in murder mystery narratives, but does a good job at creating a visually impressive film - even if those visuals do not reflect the overall tone and theme. The acting is strong, but the choice of expository dialogue somewhat undermines the talent of the entire cast. I hope that, if Kenneth Branagh does continue onto producing Death on the Nile, it will be somewhat more suspenseful, and be less style, but more substance.

Thanks for reading!

If exposition and dialogue in film is something you would like to understand more about, and how you can potentially avoid it, check out these videos on the subject matter:

Escape from (Dull) Exposition - RocketJump

The Social Network - Designing Dialogue - Channel Chriswell

Dialogue in Film: How Should Characters Talk? - Now You See It