Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Murder on the Orient Express
March 3, 2018
Murder on the Orient Express - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Murder on the Orient Express was expected to be a hit; however, it beat expectations earning nearly $350 million worldwide. The studio’s share of the box office was about $150 million compared to $55 million for its production budget and likely under $100 million for its combined budget. A sequel was announced while the film was still in theaters. Is this a smart move? Is the movie good enough to warrant a sequel? Or will those who watched this movie going to want to stay away from any follow-up?
Murder on the Orient Express is arguably Agatha Christie’s most famous novel. It is inarguably her most famous Hercule Poirot novel. Because of this, and because it is a murder mystery story, I don’t think I need to go into detail when it comes to the plot. In fact, if I do go into details, I risk spoiling the movie either by giving a detail I shouldn’t have, or by leaving out a detail that becomes obvious when you watch the movie.
The basic setup goes like this: Hercule Poirot is considered possibly the best detective in the world. His secret is noticing the little details that almost everyone else misses. However, seeing all of these incongruities takes its toll and he’s retired. All he wants to do is go on a vacation. However, at the beginning of the movie, he’s been called in to solve a case and after that is solved, he can’t even get back to his vacation plans before he’s called in for another. He will need to travel immediately to get there. Fortunately his friend, Bouc, is able to get him passage on the Orient Express. Once on board, he meets a number of fellow first class passengers. Then disaster nearly strikes. An avalanche hits the train and while it doesn’t send it crashing down the mountain, they are stuck until the rail company can dig them out and put the train back on the track. While they are recovering from the shock of this event, they discover one of the passengers has been murdered. Bouc implores Poirot to solve the crime, because he’s afraid the local police won’t be up to the task and an innocent person will go to jail. Poirot knows Bouc is right and despite wanting to relax, he agrees to take on the case.
Murder on the Orient Express earned mixed reviews so I was a little worried I wouldn’t enjoy the film. Some critics complained that Kenneth Branagh’s opulence got out of hand and the end result was a garish film. Others complained that, because the cast was so large, each actor had to overplay their small parts and the overacting distracted from the story. I can’t say these two points are wrong, but I don’t think they are real negatives in the grand scheme of things. This film looks gorgeous. The location shoots are stunning and it goes without saying that the sets for the titular train are amazing. I never got the sense that the production design was distracting from the story. And yes, the acting could be a bit... hammy. Maybe over-the-top is a better term to use. That said, I dug it, for the most part. There are a couple of roles that when compared to the average could have been toned down, but the, let’s call it passion, most of the actors displayed was appropriate to the story.
On the downside, I don’t think the story needed the minor action scenes we got and having an action climax meant the whodunit reveal felt like the denouement rather than the true climax of the story as it should have been.
... Also, the 1974 version is just better.
Extras start with an audio commentary track featuring the director, Kenneth Branagh, and the screenwriter, Michael Green. Up next are eight featurettes, or six, depending on how you look at them. Agatha Christie: An Intimate Portrait is a 19-minute featurette on the world-famous murder mystery author. Let’s Talk About Hercule Poirot spends 10 minutes looking at the character of Hercule Poirot, both the original as written by Agatha Christie and Kenneth Branagh’s interpretation of the character. The first of three Unusual Suspects looks at the massive list of characters in the movie. There are a lot of characters, so I’m not surprised this is split into three parts, but the total running time is just 18 minutes, so each character only has a short profile. The Art of Murder is a 16-minute look at the the making of the movie from adapting the book and casting the roles and getting Kenneth Branagh to direct. All Aboard: Filming Murder on the Orient Express is another 16-minute making of featurette, this time more on the day-to-day filming. The final featurette is Music of Murder, an 8-minute featurette on the score. Up next, is nearly a dozen deleted, extended, alternative scenes, with optional audio commentary, with a total running time of 17 minutes. That’s over 100 minutes of extras, which isn’t that much shorter than the film itself.
The Disney / Fox merger will result in some movies being canceled. That’s inevitable. The only franchise I’m worried about is this one. It made a massive profit and I think most people who watched Murder on the Orient Express will be excited about Death on the Nile. The DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack are loaded with extras and it is easily worth picking up.
Video on Demand
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The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Green, Agatha Christie, Tom Bateman