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+---- Thread: Death on the Nile (2021) (/showthread.php?tid=6950)
Death on the Nile (2021) - Greg - 04-03-2022
Hmmm, I swore that DM already wrote a review of this film. I thought we talked about Gal Gadot's acting chops or lack thereof. Until I am corrected, I will leave this review here because it was the HBO Big Saturday Night Movie. (I'm glad that is coming back, btw, the idea of a big new movie on Saturday Night. It seemed to vanish during the Pandemic Times)
Death on the Nile? Is that the title or just how tQ is feeling? In a strange twist the Queen disliked this film far more than I. And if it is Saturday Night, it must be time for a Kenneth Branagh film. Last week Belfast. This week DOTN. And it was okay. Lots of actors acting their hardest. Lots of weird overt camera movements. Plenty of CGI that looked like CGI coupled with actual shots that didn't blend in well.
It's Agony Christie so you kind of know the beats and the situations. Sadly for her, what was once fresh and new and is now just cliche. I admonished tQ not to give anything away since I had never read the book nor seen the Ustinov film. One of the reasons I had no desire to see Murder on the Orient Express is because I knew whodunnit. And it would just be a weird exercise of waiting for the reveal. All that being said, I was pretty sure of the set up from the beginning. Wealthy woman weds poor man. They take all their friends on a honeymoon down the Nile. Bad things happen. Hercule Poirot explains how all the bad things came about.
Like I said, everyone was acting their asses off especially Branagh. It was fun to see French and Saunders in there. French and Saunders being a comedy duo from British TV. Russel Brand probably does the best job in an understated role as a physician. There was a weird love story involving Poirot and his wife and World War 1 which looks like they borrowed the trenches from 1914 or maybe Wonder Woman. I'm guessing that bit wasn't in the original book.
I don't think Branagh is a very good director. His camera work all seems clunky. His set ups are like filming people on a theater stage. He also loves to to do this camera move where the camera circles around the actors while they talk. Camera moves are supposed to be kind of unobtrusive and this is the opposite of that. He used a similar move in Belfast and it was odd there, too. I did drift off several times contemplating how they did the sailing ship shots and how they used the green screen to accomplish that. On the one hand, directing Thor helped Branagh in doing these big CGI movies but it hurts because that's all he has. No practical sets at all.
The movie was fine. Maybe a bit of a step up from a Masterpiece Theater production. But all very predictable.
RE: Death on the Nile (2021) - Drunk Monk - 04-03-2022
(04-03-2022, 08:01 AM)Greg Wrote: Hmmm, I swore that DM already wrote a review of this film.
False memory. I haven't seen this yet. I will someday eventually I imagine...
(04-03-2022, 08:01 AM)Greg Wrote: But all very predictable.
Well, it's been done and we all know who did it, right? Unless there's a twist.
Actually, I don't remember who did it now...was it Jane Birkin? Wait, wait. Don't tell me.
RE: Death on the Nile (2021) - King Bob - 04-06-2022
Saw this the other night. Instead of who done it, this one is who done all of them. I feel like there must have been a lower body count in the original. I agree that there's bad CGI and much scenery chewing. I expected nothing and so I was reasonably entertained.
RE: Death on the Nile (2021) - Drunk Monk - 05-14-2022
Told ya I’d get around to this eventually.
It was okay. Branagh is Branagh and always has that Shakespearean undertone, which is affectatious but I get it. The swirly camerawork and cgi backgrounds were a bit much, distractingly so at first (I had the same technical bts curiosity with some of the one-er shots too) but I eventually settled into it and wrote it all off as artsy fartsy style. I mistakenly guessed the second victim was the killer. I was bummed that the two actors I wanted to watch most were early victims. Gal was Gal, ever glamourous. Brand played against type enough that I was questioning ‘is that Brand?’ through most of it. Branagh is starting to work as Poirot for me, at least enough that I’d watch another installment with him directing and playing the lead. Never read any Agatha. Not particularly D00M recommended.