
Based on the trailer for Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express and its use of the song Believer by Imagine Dragons, you might think the new movie was going to be a stylish, modern, updated adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel. It’s stylish alright but modern … not so much. In fact, it’s a pretty classically plotted and filmed mystery.
Christie’s famous character, Hercule Poirot is set on taking a well deserved vacation to relax and read some Charles Dickens. But when you’re “probably the world’s greatest detective” mysteries just won’t give you a rest. When one of the train’s many colorful passengers, the unpleasant criminal Mr. Ratchett is discovered dead and an avalanche postpones the trip, Poirot puts aside his reading to investigate the murder.
It’s a classy retelling of a classic story, but with at least three adaptations already available, I wonder why a fourth was needed. If you’re a die hard Christie fan or if you haven’t seen the 1974 version, you’ll probably enjoy it, but don’t expect anything too new and don’t expect any Imagine Dragons.