Mord im Orient-Express

Although the original by Agatha Christie is a perfect detective story that will be relevant even in a hundred years, giving this movie a five-star load is unfortunately almost impossible. The story is amazing, the adaptation and the camera work are very imaginative, CGI is surprisingly okay, but Kenneth Branagh decided to approach the movie on such a massive scale that not only did he drag a bunch of fantastic actors on board, but he also turned the Balkans into the Italian Dolomites. On top of that, the resolution didn’t sit well with me. Even though I knew what would happen. The Last Supper style also culminated acting-wise and some characters turned into caricatures of themselves thanks to their theatrically expressive performance and I was a little sorry about that. Overall a good movie but it can thank the source material for that. (18.02.2018)

I love the old version with Albert Finney, but the new one by Kenneth Branagh certainly doesn't disgrace it. However, the director and the main actor in one person decided – quite logically and, I think, rightly – not to try to make any fundamental statement against it or the source material. So although the trailers try to suggest that we're going to see some brisker pacing and maybe even some action, it's still the right kind of Poirot dialogue. And just like the film's classics, it stands on its excellent cast, great performances, dialogue and of course how perfectly thought out the whole thing is. Branagh treats the book with reverence, but at the same time doesn't shy away from a more modern and clever use of cinematography and excellent music work. And the result is the most honest whodunit I could have imagined given the source material. It goes exactly as it should. (27.07.2018)

I confess to being a big fan of Agatha Christie and David Suchet's Poirot, so as hard as I tried, I couldn't get past this modern take, where Poirot runs, fights, gets shot at (and hit), steps in dung and then steps in it on purpose again, investigating in a truly un-Poirot-like way. And so on and so forth. This is simply not Hercule Poirot. If they'd just taken inspiration from the prequel and called the detective, say, Jarda Vomáčka, it would have been fine and it would probably have been easier to digest this new Poirot, but nope. Besides, even though it had such a beautiful cast, the acting came across so stilted that I didn't really have anyone to focus on and I was bored for most of the film (except for the scenes where Poirot was deviating from his Poirotness, because I was getting angry and the classic fan in me was fighting it). I admit the visuals were beautiful, but that was the end of it. Definitely a full-on disappointment for me. (11.02.2018)

Wonderful acting performances, modern and dynamic visuals (interesting camerawork inside the cramped Orient Express) and a cruel moral to the story, which has become a classic. Branagh is excellent; I’d like to see he again as Poirot. (23.06.2018)

"Mord im Orient-Express" ist eine der berühmtesten Poirot-Geschichten von Agatha Christie. Es wurde erstmals 1934 veröffentlicht und erscheint seit dem Folgejahr regelmäßig in tschechischer Sprache. Der Fall des Lindbergh-Babys ist ebenfalls berüchtigt, seine Tragweite lässt sich beispielsweise daran ablesen, dass er seinerzeit auch Marlene Dietrich in Angst und Schrecken versetzte, die zwei Leibwächter für ihre Tochter anstellte. Das durch den Skandal verursachte Trauma war in den 1930er Jahren fast greifbar... Es gibt eine Reihe von Verfilmungen, sei es in Film, Fernsehen, Radio, Theater, Comics oder Videospielen. Ist es also eine gute Wahl, um eine neue Serie zu beginnen? Ist es nicht eher problematisch, neue Poirot-Fälle gerade derart notorisch zu erzählen? Bisher scheint Kenneth Branagh eine glückliche Hand gehabt zu haben. Bald wird er wiederkommen und sicherlich einen weiteren berühmten Fall lösen - den "Tod auf dem Nil". Wie also sah das Rezept aus - Branagh scheute sich nicht, einen klassischen All-Star-Film für ein heutiges Publikum zu drehen, bei dem es wichtig ist, dass auch die kleinsten Rollen von angesehenen Schauspielern gespielt werden. Das Ganze ist hinreichend idealisiert, spielt bewusst mit Pietät und ist dennoch spannend und dort, wo gewünscht, auch witzig. Es handelt sich also um eine Leistung, an der man sich ohne zu zögern erfreuen kann. Und als Bonbon gibt es einen neuen Song, gesungen von Michelle Pfeiffer - "Never Forget". (22.05.2018)

Overwrought and overly lavish crime drama in the hands of a first-class connoisseur, aesthete, pedant and lover of classic literary subjects all in one. That it doesn’t work very well as a whole? That is true and that is what it looks like. Not that Branagh isn't good in front of the camera, on the contrary, he is the best of the lot, but he is also the only watchable thing, unless you count the impressive camera sequences of Istanbul and the mountain heights, but you can put on Discovery Channel for that, and you will spare yourself the disappointment of unfulfilled expectations of a quality and solid detective story. (16.02.2018)

Der Mörder lacht mich aus. Gut. Sein erster Fehler! Vom Anfang bis zum Ende habe ich gedacht, wie schön es wäre, wenn ich nicht wüsste, wie die Geschichte ausgehen wird. Wenn mir nämlich der Film Mord im Orient-Express auch die geheimnisvolle Detektiv-Stimmung angeboten hätte, wäre er noch besser gewesen. Das ist aber natürlich kein Fehler des Films, der fast in allen Hinsichten perfekt ist. Im Mittelpunkt befindet sich natürlich Poirot (in Branaghs ausgezeichnet moderater und sensibler Darbietung, mit einem Schnurrbart wie aus Hogwarts). Die anderen Figuren stehen aber nicht im Hintergrund. Die Ausstattung ist zwar durch und durch digital, aber schön. Und wenn die Emotionen an die Reihe kommen, ist es egal, ob man die Vorlage kennt oder nicht. Ein bisschen überflüssig kamen mir nur Poirots Erinnerungen an Katherine (aus "Der blaue Express"?) vor. Die Verbindung am Ende, die andeutet, dass sich die Fortsetzung "auf dem verdammten Nil“ abspielen wird, hat mir nicht besonders gefallen. (13.11.2017)

The attempt to combine the most classical of classic detective stories with modern filmmaking techniques is commendable, but not quite effective. I appreciate Branagh's clear vision, his courage to come up with his own ideas, and his absolute commitment to the story and the main character, but the result lacks a single memorable passage, and, especially in the second half, it hits a monotonous, old-fashioned note that doesn't fit well with his intentions to make an energetic version of the case of the level-headed intellectual. It's very pretty to look at and the stellar cast is a delight, but it's still more predictable and less cool than would be ideal. (30.04.2018)

Branagh, after failed experiments with big-budget filmmaking (Jack Ryan, Thor), has managed to find the right chessboard in which he can dabble as a filmmaker, even with his theatrical sensibilities. The stage of four train cars is an ideal setting for him, he can play around with popular formal elements of the theater and still use all the possibilities of cinematic language. You can see his joy in this, the reveling in the various minute details, the blocking, and above all the movement through the scene, where we can either be fooled or collect clues just by working within the film frame. It's true that the film can never match the wildly overpopulated opening in Istanbul, in which one character after another arrives in the crowded streets of a wonderfully hectic big city, but then again there is a place for quiet admiration of the ingenious work with space, in which long, refined shots do their best not to repeat any previous steps. It's a reminiscence of the most classic filmmaking with the most contemporary of means, it's a beauty, and again after a long time a film where there was a storm raging outside, the cinema was leaking, the projection was a little askew, but I sat back, untroubled, waiting to see how the whodunit gets revealed, and wanted for nothing. (12.02.2018)

Ich liebe Detektivfilme, von klein auf verschlang ich vor allem die mit Poirot, ich mag Kenneth Branagh sehr und liebe eine toll gezeichnete Atmosphäre, die sich auf hübsche Musik und visuelle Elemente stützen kann. Und nun konkret - ich mag keine Detektivgeschichten, bei denen ich schon vorher weiß, wie sie ausgehen. Mord im Orient-Express, Alibi und Zehn kleine Negerlein sind von ihrer Pointe her unvergesslich, deshalb weiß ich auch nach zwanzig Jahren noch, wie sie enden. Also blieb mir nichts weiter übrig, als mich auf die Verarbeitung und die schauspielerischen Leistungen des Extraliga-Ensembles zu konzentrieren. Das Ergebnis ist mehr als verlegen - Kenneth Branagh kann ein toller Jago, ein famoser Heydrich oder ein charismatischer Wallander sein, aber er wird nie ein echter schlurfender Poirot mit einem Eierkopf. Und ein Poirot in actionreicheren Szenen? Nie, leider zu amerikanisch. Der gesamte Film ist leider recht steril und langweilig, also bleiben nur die hübsche Atmosphäre, die Musik, das Visuelle und der Anblick beliebter Schauspieler und Schauspielerinnen. Für mich drei Sterne, aber sehr, sehr schwache. (08.10.2018)

Kenneth Branagh may have taken on a bit too much after all. His take on Poirot tries to be unnecessarily too modern in places, which I don't think works in his action sequences. I didn't even like the execution of the final reveal, but the film had quite a bit of drive and Agatha wrote the story so well that you simply can't go wrong with it. (12.11.2017)

A very worthy remake of a great literary and cinematic classic. Kenneth Branagh as the "new" Hercule Poirot definitely holds his own, plus he has a really wicked moustache. It's beautifully colored, photographed, voiced, and has (even!) two rather modest action sequences. Despite the overall pomposity and beautifully polished format, Branagh is at his strongest at the very end, when he has to grapple with a moral dilemma. At that moment, even this modern take on Agatha Christie's work is emotionally gripping. Overall, a slightly weaker 4 stars (mostly for the unnecessarily drawn-out opening). (26.06.2019)