Arena undertook a night of movie and music reviews and one of the films up for debate was Murder on the Orient Express. Roe McDermott and Gavin Burke joined Sean Rocks to give their verdict on the adaptation of the 1974 classic, based on the novel of the same name by Agatha Christie.
This revival is helmed by Kenneth Branagh, who both directs and sports a “flamboyant” (in Gavin’s opinion) moustache as Hercule Poirot.
Those familiar with the original works will note that it has a lengthy cast of players. Sean was curious to know how Branagh handled this. With so many characters, Sean asked, does it all get a bit lost in a sea of archetypes? Roe believes so. She saw it as a “wasted opportunity” when dealing with such talented actors.
“They are unfortunately absolute archetypes and splashes that are not developed in any way and I think that was the conundrum facing Branagh…how do you make people care about a murder-mystery when everybody knows whodunit?“
Branagh’s attempt at a solution for this problem, Roe said, was to “pack this with star power”. And it’s fair to say he succeeded at that. The film is not short on recognisable faces. Among those featured are Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz and Olivia Colman. This may be to its detriment, Roe and Gavin agree.
“They’re such broadly-drawn characters that are given little to nothing to do, which feels like such a waste…it robs the story of any emotional heft.”
Could the cinematography be the film’s saving grace, asked Sean? Gavin found himself unmoved.
“Branagh is at pains to show you the gorgeous Yugoslavian mountains and the snowy passageways and sometimes he moves the camera around with abandon inside the carriages themselves… It’s as if he’s trying to make it cinematic because the material isn’t, it’s people sitting down in a room talking for an hour and a half…I found all that stuff distracting.”
There was not much light at the end of the tunnel when Sean asked Roe for her final words on the film.
“I don’t know who the demographic [is] it’s going for…I don’t know who’s going to turn out for it.“
Listen back to the full discussion on Arena here.