Working from a screenplay by Michael Green ("Blade Runner 2049") actor/director Kenneth Branagh works with a brilliant collection of actors to populate this suspenseful mystery (the killer is still among them).
Some of Branagh's cast:
- Kenneth Branagh ("Dunkirk") Hercule Poirot must investigate the murder of a murderer. (That ridiculous thing is NOT Poirot's mustache!) Like Poirot, Branagh is not hampered by humility. To me, this looks for the world like a tepid vanity project.
- Johnny Depp ("Black Mass") Edward Ratchett is an American gangster, with a scarred face and those rude, crude American manners.
- Judi Dench ("Tulip Fever") Princess Dragomiroff is a royal pain but her companion tries her best to meet her expectations.
- Olivia Coleman ("Broadchurch") The Princess's hardworking maid Hildegarde Schmidt can explain where the Princess was at the time the victim died.
- Leslie Odom, Jr. ("Law & Order") Dr. Arbuthnot is positive what time the victim died. This helps narrow the field of suspects.
- Penélope Cruz ("American Crime Story") Missionary Pilar Estravados is simply trying to arrive at her next post and save souls.
- Michelle Pfeiffer ("Where is Kyra?") Our widow Caroline Hubbard never intended to travel alone. She makes sure everyone knows that she is on the lookout for a new man.
- Derek Jacobi ("Last Tango in Halifax") Butler Edward Henry Masterman is the man to see about details. He is a careful man.
- Daisy Ridley ("Star Wars") Governess Miss Mary Debenham will help Poirot as best she can, but...
- Willem Dafoe ("John Wick") Like many of the other characters, Professor Gerhard Hardman has an odd accent.
This PG-13 script boasts clever (but mumbled) repartee, implied sexual misbehavior, quite a bit of alcohol, and absolutely NO blowie uppie stuff, but we all know how it ends, don't we? If not, it only runs for 1 hour and 54 minutes.
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Here is a sample:
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