Death on the Nile (2022)

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Gal Gadot, Kenneth Branagh, Annette Bening, Russell Brand

While on vacation on the Nile, Hercule Poirot must investigate the murder of a young heiress.

Oh, don’t you just love those majestic, mysterious pyramids? Yup, for this Hercule Poirot adventure we head to Egypt and board the Nile river. It’s just a pity the film wasn’t shot on location; it would have looked more authentic than the clearly post-production added Egyptian scenery. Then again, I suppose it is more practical and cost-efficient to do everything in a studio… (Ok, I admit, some scenes actually did look pretty impressive.)

Ok, so while I reminisce on the ‘shot on location’ term, what does this new adventure have in store for our famous detective who is as observant as ever? Hunky Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer) was to marry Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey) – or simply Jacky – until she introduced him to her wealthy friend Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot). Simon and Linnet fell in love and were married just 6 weeks later.

They go on honeymoon to Egypt with a bunch of friends and family, and Hercule is invited along, as well. I must be honest, the first half of the movie didn’t really interest me that much and I eventually found my eyes and mind wandering. It was slow and not captivating at all… not until the first murder finally took place. It then became your typical whodunit murder mystery where everyone had a motive, and an alibi – with a few twists along the way.

I enjoyed the reveal to this movie more than the ending to its predecessor, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’, but in general I found ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ more entertaining.

‘Death on the Nile’ earned $137 million on a $90 million budget. (Far less than ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ box office takings of $352 million.)

Would I watch it again? No.