Adapted from one of Agatha Christie’s most prolific mystery novels, Death On The Nile follows Detective Poirot as he embarks upon a seemingly idyllic honeymoon cruise that soon descends into tragedy and terror.
★★✰✰✰
Death On The Nile, Kenneth Branagh’s second outing as Christie’s famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, has been a long time coming. First scheduled for a Christmas 2019 cinematic release, the movie was delayed multiple times due in part to the COVID pandemic but also in the wake of a series of scandals involving its star-studded cast.
Perhaps without these delays and the intensified media attention, it could have passed below the radar as a piece of inoffensive family entertainment. It’s a film that definitely suffers under too critical a lens, but despite the lingering shadow of its cast’s controversies, Death On The Nile is, more often than not, self-indulgent murder mystery fun.
Branagh’s affection for his character is evident and his take on the detective is the film’s standout attraction. An opening sequence focused on Poirot’s newly devised tragic backstory during the war (and also a backstory for his oft-ridiculed moustache) arguably signals the film’s early peak, the heights of which are never quite reached again.
Aside from this, Death On The Nile remains largely faithful to its source material. Its plot centres around a pair of newlyweds, the beautiful and wealthy socialite Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot) and her adoring new husband Simon Doyle, (Armie Hammer), a couple from different ends of the social class spectrum. Hammer’s portrayal of the animalistic Simon is convincing, though it inspires a slight discomfort amid recent allegations. Sex Education‘s Emma Mackey stars as another key player, Simon’s scorned ex-lover Jacqueline de Bellefort, who is a vibrant, charismatic presence with just enough verve and charm to pull off the doubly jealous and sympathetic aspects to her character.
The film elevates the themes of class warfare and its intersection with love above those of Christie’s book, partly through its widened and more diverse cast. And some of the characters are altered to this end, such as Sophie Okonedo’s sensual jazz songstress, Salome Otterbourne, who is portrayed in the book as an embittered former romance novelist. Okonedo in particular offers up an enthralling performance, making her memorable entrance in a lascivious dance club scene early in the film’s run. But the writing too often falls on cliché for many of its ideas to be fully realised. With a little more intentionality and a snider edge to its material, Death On The Nile could be a thrilling exercise in Christie campness. But as it stands, the film falls on the sword of its own ultimately hollow sincerity.
If you’re a die-hard Christie aficionado, you may not find much to write home about. Peter Ustinov’s 1978 outing as Poirot boasts an equally, if not more so, star-studded ensemble cast and makes more use of their varied talents. By comparison, this cruise party often doesn’t feel three-dimensional enough to command the level of audience investment required.
The difficulty of Death On The Nile is that a lot of plot transpires before a murder even takes place. To dodge this, Branagh’s movie emphasises the decadent visuals of its Egyptian setting—the costumes, the champagne, the pyramids, and the sphinxes. And while these can be impressive, the excessive CGI more often feels illusory and uncanny, and this languor means that the film’s pacing is often inconsistent.
But despite this, there is a certain heartfeltness to be found here—sadly offset by the film’s encircling scandals. It can be hammy and cheesy in the way that a good stage show or pantomime is. Death On The Nile won’t stick in your mind long beyond its end credits, but it is an adequately enjoyable pleasure cruise that is probably enough to warrant a third instalment in the Branagh as Poirot cinematic universe.
The Verdict
Death On The Nile never needed to be a great film, it just needed to be extravagant, escapist fun—and Branagh’s directorial efforts do sometimes manage to hit the right notes. But unconvincing dialogue, shoddy graphics and unbalanced characterisation ultimately send this lavish adaptation downriver.
Words by Eleanor Burleigh
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