Murder on the Orient Express
DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:
This review is for the movie, not the home release (I just saw it in the theater today on it’s day of release). I don’t usually post movie reviews since I’m no expert, but here are my initial (spoiler-free) thoughts on Murder On The Orient Express. My expectations were dampened by negative reviews. Critics are complaining about a flat ending and a wasted ensemble cast of A-list actors. I can understand why a critic or even the average movie-goer would feel that way, However, I think both of these disappointments come from wrong-headed expectations.The ensemble was not further developed because they are not supposed to be. As in all of Christie’s novels, the limited cast of characters are all suspects in a murder investigation. The reader’s/viewer’s interest in the characters is supposed to be piqued by each suspect, and left wanting until the end. The performances here were restrained and limited, in the service of a murder mystery, not wasted.Similarly, the complaint from critics that the end was flat betray certain expectations for a big-budget movie that are simply not to be met in a Hercule Poirot story. Every single story will always end with Poirot explaining to all the suspects who the killer was. This type of scene is easier to adapt to the stage than to film, but Branaugh succeeded in some powerful imagery and drama in this scene to make it have the full weight of a climactic ending. The gratification at the end of a Christie novel is that it all makes sense and though the reader (likely) did not figure it out, the little grey cells of a well-groomed, peculiar Belgian detective did. Without spoiling anything, Murder On the Orient Express is famous because Christie does something slightly different with the formula here. This was handled very well and had all the drama it needed. The plot-driven, dialogue-driven Poirot story plays well for British television audiences in the 80’s and 90’s, but I can see why it would seem unspectacular for $15 in 2017 America. I’m glad we didn’t have some absurdly out-of-place action scene at the end.- D. Brover
For the most part, you need to ignore the critics on this one and make up your own mind. The overwhelming majority of the reviews I read aren’t really reviews of <i>this</i> movie; they’re reviews of Sidney Lumet’s 1974 <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> and observations that Branagh’s version isn’t that one. That’s a useless point to make, because Branagh is trying to do something very different than Lumet did. I’m not claiming that everyone will love this movie as much as I did, but it needs to be evaluated for what it is, not what it is not.-J. Michael Neal
DVD Wholesale Main Features:
Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp
Directors: Kenneth Branagh
Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Dubbed: French, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: PG-13 Parents Strongly Cautioned
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: February 27, 2018
Run Time: 114 minutes
ASIN: B07731FMXQ
