BELFAST : Wednesday 9th February 2022.

I saw the M Rated 'BELFAST' last week at my local independent movie theatre, and this British coming of age comedy drama film is Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Kenneth Branagh whose previous film making credits include his 1989 debut feature 'Henry V' then 'Peter's Friends' in 1992, 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein' in 1994, 'Sleuth' in 2007, 'Thor' in 2011, 'Murder on the Orient Express' in 2017, 'All Is True' in 2018, with 'Death on the Nile' released just last week. This film saw its World Premiere screening at the Telluride Film Festival in early September last year and also won the People's Choice Award at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in the US in mid-November 2021 and in the UK and Ireland on 21 January. It has received positive reviews from critics and has, so far, grossed over US$26M at the global Box Office, and has picked up thirty-eight award wins and another 230 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit (many of those nods are still awaiting a final outcome at the time of writing).

The film charts the life of a working class Northern Irish Protestant family from the perspective of nine year old Buddy (Jude Hill), during the rise of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in Belfast, where Buddy and his family live. Father Pa (Jamie Dornan) works overseas in England on a construction project, while the family—Ma (Caitriona Balfe), elder brother Will (Lewis McAskie), and paternal grandparents Granny (Judi Dench) and Pop (Ciaran Hinds) live in Belfast. 

Opening up on 15th August 1969, a mob of angry Protestant loyalists randomly and without warning attack the homes and businesses of Catholics along the street where Buddy lives, smashing windows in, breaking down doors and torching a car. The local folk set up a barricade at the end of the street to prevent their re-entry, and Pa returns from England (as he does every other weekend) to check on the safety and security of his family. Buddy and Will attend church one Sunday without their parents on this occasion, and the minister delivers a fire and brimstone speech about choosing the right fork in the road - one which leads to the sanctity of heaven and the other to all damnation in hell. Buddy continues to reflect on the words of the minister throughout the film. At school, Buddy begins to develop feelings towards high-achieving Catholic classmate Catherine (Olive Tennant), and in time they become friends, so much so that in conversation with Pop, Buddy alludes to one day marrying her. 

In the meantime, local low level crim and Protestant loyalist Billy Clanton (Colin Morgan) approaches Pa demanding his involvement in 'the cause' but when Pa refuses, he turns aggressive and starts harassing Buddy saying that he expects his Pa to do the right thing. The family also is struggling to pay off their accumulated debts to the tax office. Pa produces brochures about emigrating to Sydney or Vancouver as the chance for the family to start afresh, however, as far as Ma is concerned this is not an option, as she is dead set against leaving her home, her friends and her family. But, on the other hand, she can no longer deny the option of leaving Belfast as the conflict deepens. Pa returns home after his fortnight in England and tells Ma that he has been offered a promotion in England to work on a five year long construction project that comes with a housing deal from his employers. His employers want an answer from him by Christmas. They try to discuss the matter with their boys, but Buddy has a melt down at the thought of leaving Belfast.

Buddy, local teenage girl Moira (Lara McDonnell) and another young lad attempt to steal chocolate bars from a sweet shop, but the plan goes south and Buddy narrowly escapes the clutches of the shop owner carrying a single bar of Turkish Delight. Moira chastises Buddy for making off with the sweet confection when there were Crunchie's and Flake's to be had instead. When later questioned by the Police, Buddy does not reveal his accomplices. Afterwards, suitably impressed by Buddy's resilience, Moira recruits him into her local gang, who participate in a looting of a mini-supermarket. A reluctant Buddy is forced into stealing something and grabs a box of laundry detergent before returning home and telling Ma of his activities. Ma berates him and immediately drags both Buddy and Moira back to the ongoing looting in order to return their stolen items. Billy Clanton then appears and shouts at them that they take things and don't put them back and promptly takes them hostage to leverage his own escape. Pa, Will and the British Army arrive at the scene to bring an end the riot. This results in a standoff with Billy who attempts a shootout until Pa and Will manage to disarm him. Billy is then arrested and swears retribution.

The Christmas deadline for Ma and Pa's decision to move to England comes and goes - and they further delay until Easter. In the meantime Pop has died. Realising that they are no longer safe in Belfast, the family decide to relocate to England. Before leaving, Buddy bids farewell to Catherine. He laments to Pa whether he could have pursued a future with her despite the fact she was a Catholic. Pa responds that it doesn't make a difference what culture, creed or beliefs someone has, they will always be welcome in their home. As Granny watches, the family boards a bus headed for the airport, saying to herself 'go, go now, and don't look back'. Granny is left alone after the death of her husband and the departure of her children and grandchildren, as she closes the door behind her and rests her head on the window, sobbing. 

'Belfast' is a film for the ages, and anyone who grew up in Britain during these turbulent times will be able to relate to Branagh's tender, whimsical, thought provoking semi-autobiographical offering, centred firmly in his young childhood formative years. The casting is top notch, and Jude Hill as the central character of Buddy is a standout, with equally impressive performances from Dornan, Balfe, Dench and Hinds who all deliver grounded, believable and relatable roles. Whilst the troubles of Northern Ireland are secondary to the plot here and there are no political machinations behind them, this is a film of family connectedness, community solidarity, fun and laughter, love and emotion, music and cinema as seen through the eyes of a nine year old who is struggling to come to terms with a changing world being ripped apart by violence. And within it, Branagh has crafted a crowd pleasing, awards worthy addition to his already impressive resume. 

'Belfast' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

RED JOAN : Tuesday 11th June 2019.

'RED JOAN' which I saw earlier this week is a British spy drama film Directed by frequent theatre and occasional film Director Trevor Nunn. This film is based on the novel of the same name by Jennie Rooney which in turn gained its inspiration from the real life exploits of Melita Norwood, who worked at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association from 1937 as a secretary, and supplied the Soviet Union's KGB with nuclear secrets for the following thirty years or so. The film received its World Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year, went on release in the UK and the US in mid-April, has so far taken US$8M at the Box Office and has garnered generally average Reviews.

We are first introduced to 80+ year old Joan Stanley (Judi Dench) as she potters about in her front garden pruning the hedgerows of her house somewhere in the English suburbs. She is a widow. It is the early 2000's and her peaceful uneventful existence is interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Opening the door reveals the British Special Branch accusing the octogenarian of treason, and promptly arrest her and take her in for questioning.

It soon transpires that Joan is accused of giving away Britain's secrets to the Russians from the late 1930's onwards, and in particular those secrets relating to the eventual building of the Atom Bomb. As the ageing Joan is interrogated in a drab and dreary looking room of course denying every accusation thrown at her, we are taken back to Joan's formative years in the mid-'30's when she was an aspiring physics student at Cambridge University (Sophie Cookson portraying the younger Joan).

The catalyst for Joan's change of direction in life comes late one night, when a knock on her dorm room window, reveals Sonya (Tereza Srbova) who wanting to avoid the curfew clambers in through the window, introduces herself to Joan, the pair chat briefly, she borrows Joan's dressing gown and exits the door to return to her own quarters. But in this fleeting exchange a partnership is forged that will have long lasting impacts upon the world. Grateful for Joan's assistance, Sonya invites Joan to a film screening where she meets her cousin, Leo (Tom Hughes) - a dedicated communist just like she is. The pair are instantly attracted to each other.

Taken in by the notions of social injustice, and also swept along by Leo's convincing soap box preachings, Joan quietly begins to join in the rallies and gatherings speaking out against Hitler. As the timeline progresses Leo accepts a three month posting to Russia to further his studies and help with his thesis.



During this time, Joan accepts a job at a top secret government laboratory for which she has to sign the Official Secrets Act. Working in the employ of Professor Max Davis (Stephen Campbell Moore) who wants a secretary with some knowledge of physics so that he can bounce ideas off and someone who can really contribute to the cause, so Joan is seen as the prefect fit.

Eventually their work and the progress they are making comes to the attention of the upper eschelons of the ruling political party at the time, who order Davis and his entourage to travel to Canada to undertake further work and research with Britain's Canadian allies. During the trans-Atlantic shipping trip, Max and Joan hit it off. Unlike the closely guarded Leo, Max is able to express his love for Joan, but is hampered in their relationship because he is married and his wife won't give him a divorce despite him asking several times in the past. It also is revealed that both Max and Joan share equal views of the world order at that time, but have differing opinions on how that order should best be implemented. Whilst in Canada the Ambassador arranges a visit for the pair to the University of Montreal, where Leo just happens to be lecturing and has caught wind of the pending visit.

Leo asks Joan to offer up the British atom bomb research to the Russians who at that time are seen as an ally to Britain, but Joan stoically refuses. The Russians are lagging behind in their research but it is only a question of time before they catch up. The Americans too are advancing at a steadier pace, but at this point in the second World War, the Americans can't be trusted, hence the Canadian research trip. Back on English soil and Max is keeping his distance from Joan because of a marriage he can't escape from, and Leo is back on the scene further hassling Joan about giving up her research secrets to the Russians. Joan eventually relents, but for her own personal reasons.

As Joan reveals during her stony faced interrogation, now accompanied by her son Nick (Ben Miles) acting as her legal counsel, Joan didn’t just pass on Britain's nuclear secrets as an act of devotion towards Leo, but the reality was that she took up an ideological approach made entirely of her own free will after seeing the catastrophic aftermath of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively bringing Japan's end to WWII and killing millions of innocents in the process. Her thinking was that only with access to equal information could the superpowers be all on a level playing field with each other, and prevented from such disastrous consequences in the future - as history attests too subsequently.

Leo winds up dead at the end of a noose tied around his neck although it is unclear if this was of his own volition, or aided by the KGB, and Sonya has disappeared overseas with her young child and husband. Max is imprisoned for passing on atomic bomb research secrets to the Russians, although all evidence against him is circumstantial and is unlikely to hold up in court. When the authorities come to take him away Joan is in the room too, but can't bring herself to come clean for the man she loves. Joan meets Max in prison and confesses to him that it was all of her doing. Max whilst initially is stunned by this revelation, loves Joan after all, and that too him is more important. Afterwards Joan meets with a high profile ministry friend William Mitchell (Freddie Gaminara) whom she basically blackmails (via a rather damning photograph into his sexual preferences) into pulling the strings to get Max released from prison and for them both to be granted new identities and put on a slow boat to Australia. 

Back in the present day and Nick is at odds with the truth that has been revealed about his own mothers secret life. Being frail and aged she asks her son to speak for her at her trial, but Nick refuses saying that he cannot support a traitor, even if that traitor is his mother. Later that day the Special Branch detectives come knocking and promptly arrest Joan for treason having drawn a satisfactory conclusion from their investigations to which Joan practically admitted to anyway. Standing outside the front door of her suburban home, and confronted by hordes of media and disapproving neighbours, Nick emerges, holds his mothers hand, and advises the gathered Press contingent to direct any and all questions towards him, as he will be acting on her behalf.  

In an end credits sequence we are told that the British Government never did press charges against Joan Stanley, and that she passed away some years later at the age of 93.

'Red Joan' is a slow meandering offering that is light on intrigue and tension but is just about saved by the performances of Sophie Cookson and Judi Dench, with the latter's role skipped by all to briefly and wasting her valuable talents. The film recreates the era well enough - from the drab muted colours of the interiors, to the dull overcast days to the sets design but the dialogue is fairly one dimensional and all adds up to a fairly mediocre take on a true story that could have been so much more. It's regrettable that this film doesn't ignite in a way other similar period pieces did with 'The Imitation Game' or even 'Their Finest' which really seemed to grasp their subject matter and run with it in inventive ways to capture the interest and the enthusiasm of the viewer. I was left wanting more from this film, which despite its strong cast and period lensing and costumery, is a film you might watch on a rainy weekend afternoon from the comfort of your home rather than blowing your $20 on the price of a cinema ticket.

'Red Joan' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a potential of five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ALL IS TRUE : Tuesday 21st May 2019.

I saw 'ALL IS TRUE'  earlier this week, two weeks after its Australian release. This British offering is Directed by Kenneth Branagh and Written by Ben Elton and stars the famed Actor and Director Branagh as William Shakespeare. The film takes it title from an alternative name for his play 'Henry VIII'. The film was shot without any fanfare and featured as the Opening Night Gala film at the Palm Springs Film Festival in early January this year after its very limited release Stateside over Christmas 2018 and before its release in the UK in early February. It saw a limited re-release in Los Angeles and New York on 10th May, after which a wider US release was planned. The film has so far grossed US$1.5M and has garnered generally favourable Reviews.

It is 1613, and William Shakespeare (Kenneth Branagh) is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground in the opening scene in which we see a silhouette of Shakespeare standing in front of his beloved theatre as it is engulfed in a rage of flame. Devastated, Shakespeare returns to his home at Stratford-upon-Avon where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family, as he vows never to write again.

Haunted by the death of his only son, Hamnet, who died seventeen years previously, he struggles to repair the broken relationship with his wife Anne Hathaway (Judi Dench) and his two daughters Susanna and Judith (Lydia Wilson and Kathryn Wilder respectively). Shakespeare wasn't around when Hamnet died, much to the chagrin of Anne, and she reminds him that he was off penning 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' at the time and too distracted to care about the death of their only son. Now Shakespeare wants to play catch-up with his emotions, and begins to have visions of young Hamnet, who died in his pre-teen years. Although Anne has committed herself to a marriage of disappointments, she frequently reminds her husband that he has been absent from their lives for the last twenty years, and he is more like a guest in their family household than a husband, and a such she will not share her bed with him.

His daughter Judith (Kathryn Wilder) is more outspoken in her dealings with her father, who wishes for nothing more than to see his twenty-seven year old daughter give up the single life and do the very thing that every woman is brought into the world to do - bear children and give him a grandson, or two or three! His other daughter, Susannah (Lydia Wilson), seems content just to have him back in their lives but then becomes distracted, as does the whole Shakespeare clan, with a scandal in their Protestant village pointed squarely at her, and the advances of another man outside of her marriage.

And so while battling the 

emotions of the three grown women in his life, Shakespeare decides he would like to cultivate a garden to give him some purpose and as a distraction away from writing. He toils away turning the soil, planting seedlings, cultivating his meagre crop, pruning, replanting and keeping the neighbours pesky yet friendly dog at bay, all the while overseen by Anne from arms length.

In the meantime, Shakespeare is haunted by visions of Hamnet - putting the young lad up on a pedestal because of his apparent imaginative and witty writing prowess beyond his years. However, this all comes crashing down when in an emotional exchange Judith in fact reveals that she was the author of those poems which Shakespeare has credited his son for over the last seventeen years. All however, is fairly quickly forgotten and forgiven, when Judith announces her plans to marry Tom Quiney (Jack Colgrave Hirst) the local ladies man and all round Jack-the Lad. Its not long after the wedding ceremony that Judith announces her pregnancy, and needless to say the Shakespeare's are overjoyed. 

In a scene of outstanding word play, The Earl of Southampton (Sir Ian McKellen) comes to visit Shakespeare while in the area attending to other business. This is the man to whom Shakespeare allegedly penned his famous Sonnets. Shakespeare seems to hold a burning candle for the Earl, and in a foiled attempt to seduce him later that evening while sat beside a flickering fire, Shakespeare recites Sonnet 29 in its entirety. The Earl rejects Shakespeare's advances, and not to be outshone, the Earl recites the Sonnet straight back at Shakespeare but in a completely different, though no less meaningful and poignant rendition. At which point the Earl takes his leave. 

Later on we see Shakespeare visiting the local church and trawling through the records of those that have died in the parish. He is looking for Hamnet's name and finds it recorded on 11th August 1696 aged eleven. Later that evening at home Shakespeare confronts Anne and Judith about the cause of death. For all these past years Shakespeare had been led to believe that Hamnet died of the plague, but the records of the time seem to indicate otherwise. Eventually, Judith comes clean saying that Hamnet drowned in the pond at the bottom of their garden and was discovered by her and Anne the next morning face down in the water, with pages of his torn up poetry floating beside the lifeless young body. A few days later Shakespeare walks down to the pond late one afternoon and sees a vision of Hamnet sitting on bench by the edge of the pond. Hamnet speaks to his father saying that he is at peace and that he can move on. Shakespeare sits at the same bench as if to embrace Hamnet, and falls asleep.  

The next morning, with a chill in the air Shakespeare wakes from a deep sleep by the edge of the pond. Over the next few days Shakespeare's health declines steadily, during which time his family rally around him. He passes away on his 52nd birthday - on April 23rd 1616. 

Kenneth Branagh is no stranger to the works of The Bard himself, having committed over the past four decades or so to film such big screen adaptations as 'Henry V', 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'Much Ado About Nothing' amongst others. Here he blends fact and fiction and to coin a phrase used in the film by Shakespeare himself, he never let the 'truth get in the way of a good story'. This is an entertaining enough story that is elevated by Branagh, Dench and McKellen, the cinematography and production values are top notch, is is well scripted by Ben Elton and more than aptly realised by the Director and lead Actor, Branagh. Whilst this mildly paced costume drama won't be for everyone, it has enough redeeming features to be worthy of consideration if you're looking for quality filmmaking and an exploration of the great poets perhaps fictionalised final few years. And given that Shakespeare died 403 years ago and he is even more popular today than he was when he lived, what harm can there really be in a little poetic license here?

'All Is True' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five.  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS : Tuesday 14th November 2017.

'MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS' which I caught earlier this week is the classic 1934 Agatha Christie murder mystery novel upon which this film is based, that has been committed to the big and small screens a number of times over the years, most notably in 1974 as Directed by Sidney Lumet and starred an ensemble cast. That film was nominated for six Academy Awards and won one - for Best Supporting Actress going to Ingrid Bergman. It was also nominated for ten BAFTA's and walked away with three for Best Supporting Actor and Actress to John Gielgud and Ingrid Bergman respectively, and Best Music. All up the film won nine awards and received a further sixteen nominations, and at the Box Office returned US$36M from its US$1.4M budget outlay. The films cast included Albert Finney as the super sleuth gentleman detective Hercule Poirot, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Michael York, Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave and Jacqueline Bisset. In 2001 a made for television movie was released of the same name, featuring the same storyline, and the same title but set in the present day and starring Alfred Molina as Hercule Poirot, Peter Strauss and Leslie Caron. Then in 2010 the popular long running television series 'Agatha Christie's Poirot' with David Suchet as the detective aired in Season 12, Episode 3 'Murder on the Orient Express' which featured the acting talents of Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Chastain, Barbara Hershey, Toby Jones, David Morrissey, and Eileen Atkins. There has also been a BBC Radio 4 serialisation of the book and a video game adaptation over the years too.

And so now in 2017 we have this latest lavish reiteration of Christie's famed novel with Kenneth Branagh on Directing duty and starring as the hirsute Belgian detective Hercule Poirot with a ensemble cast for this production that reads like a Who's Who of British and American acting talent. The film was released in the UK on 2nd November, and in the US and Australia on 9th November. and has so far grossed US$105M off the back of a US$55M production Budget. The film has generated mixed Reviews from Critics, but all universally praise the casting and production values.

The film opens up with a scene setter in a 1934 Jerusalem at the site of The Wailing Wall where Poirot announces to a gathered crowd of onlookers who the culprit is in the theft of a valuable religious artefact. Job done, but not without a scuffle, he is ready to depart to Istanbul to travel onward to London to work on another case that needs finalising, and in between time he is to take some much needed R&R. In Istanbul, while checking out the culinary delights of a local market he happens across an old friend, and a Director of the Orient Express, Bouc (Tom Bateman) who offers the Detective a sleeper cabin on the unusually booked out Orient Express. Managing to squeeze Poirot into a shared cabin, we quickly grab glimpses of the other well to do passengers as they board, that Poirot will be sharing his journey with. The first of which is a Caroline Hubbard (Michelle Pfeiffer) a trophy ex-wife to several ex-husbands, clearly wealthy and hungry for a man, who instantly tries to chat up Poirot, but he'll have none of her advances, preferring to keep himself very much to himself, and besides, he's got a Charles Dickens book to catch up on.

As the train gets underway, Poirot is introduced to Samuel Ratchett (Johnny Depp), an American businessman who looks more like a mobster than a professional purveyor of fine arts, collectables and antiquities that he claims he is new into and still learning as he goes. Ratchett is joined on the journey by his bookkeeper come lawyer come personal assistant Hector MacQueen (Josh Gad). Over a pastry in the dining car, Ratchett confides in Poirot that he has recently undertaken some dodgy deals back in Istanbul selling fake wares, and those hard done by now want pay back and are vying for his blood, and sending him threatening letters. Ratchett pleads with Poirot to act as his personal bodyguard, for a handsome fee, for the duration of the trip to ensure his safety, but Poirot politely declines. Later that night while Poirot is trying to get to sleep he is constantly disturbed by noises coming from outside his cabin in the interconnecting hallway. Later on that night when the commotion has settled down, a lightning bolt strikes the side of a snow covered peak sending an avalanche crashing down upon the advancing train, causing the engine carriage to derail, halting the journey in its tracks on a remote mountain side.

The next morning, Poirot learns that Ratchett was murdered in his bed sometime during the previous night - stabbed a dozen times in the chest. Poirot and Bouc investigate the crime scene and the murder case, with Bouc being the only non-suspect on the train, because he slept in a different carriage the night before, unlike everyone else. Initial evidence points to a suspect working alone, with Caroline Hubbard claiming that during the night there was a strange intruder present in her cabin. Several clues are left in Ratchett's cabin, including an unused pipe cleaner, a fine lace bloodstained handkerchief with the letter 'H' engraved, and a partially destroyed note linking Ratchett to the case of an abducted child Daisy Armstrong some years previously.

The Armstrong child was held for ransom, and then killed. Ratchett is identified as being John Cassetti, the murderer of the child. Grieving, Daisy's mother Sonia collapses and gives birth to a still born premature baby and dies in child birth, and shortly thereafter, her father Colonel Armstrong commits suicide. The family's housemaid Susanne, was found guilty of the murder on trumped up charges allowing Cassetti to go free, and she hanged herself while in custody, only to be determined innocent after the fact.

More evidence is uncovered during the course of the investigation, while rail workers dig out the engine carriage from the snow. Poirot and Bouc systematically interview all the other suspects gathering further insights into their individual backgrounds, possible motives, and sorting through the lies from the truth. Poirot discovers through his expert powers of deduction, that all suspects are in some way linked to the Armstrong household, the family, or the ensuing court case. Whilst interviewing Governess Mary Debenham (Daisy Ridley) who upto now has been the most aloof about Ratchett maintaining her silence, Poirot is confronted by Dr. John Arbuthnot (Leslie Odom Jnr.) who claims responsibility for the murder, and who is also the secret interracial love interest of the Governess. A scuffle breaks out, in which Arbuthnot, a trained former sniper, shoots Poirot in the arm, but who is then incapacitated by Bouc. Poirot however, can see that Arbuthnot had never intended to kill him, and was acting out of love for Mary Debenham.

By now, Poirot has amassed enough evidence, but the prime suspect still eludes him. He calls everyone together in the nearby train tunnel while the rail workers set the engine carriage back on the tracks. He has two theories. One is that there was a lone murderer who masqueraded as a Conductor, killed Ratchett and fled the scene of the crime undetected under cover of darkness. The other is much more complex and involves every passenger suspect aboard the train being linked to the Armstrong's, to Susanne and the subsequent trial in some way - giving them all a possible motive.

Poirot concludes ultimately that each and every one of them had reason for killing Ratchett and therefore in this case, unlike every one of the cases he has solved before, there is no right or wrong, it is not black and it is not white, there is no guilty nor innocent, and as such he will have to live with that imbalance. This outcome does not sit easy with the Super Sleuth, but he must accept it on this occasion and under these circumstances.

Upon arrival at the next train stop, Poirot presents the evidence of a killer acting alone to the Yugoslavian Police, who accept his story, leaving the passengers to continue their onward journey, each wrestling with their conscience. As the Detective leaves the train, a messenger alerts him that he is required urgently in Egypt, as there has been a murder on the Nile. Poirot accepts the case, forgoing his much needed R&R, as the Orient Express departs the station, and he jumps into a waiting car.

The film also stars Judi Dench, Willem Dafoe, Derek Jacobi, Penelope Cruz, Olivia Colman and Lucy Boynton amongst others in supporting roles offering minimal dialogue that belittle their acting credentials leaving them to wallow in the background. There is no doubt that Branagh has cast an impressive line up of A-List Actors who bring a gravitas to the proceedings and no doubt a pulling power into movie theatres the world over. The production values are high and the era has been recreated faithfully with its costumes and set designs, and the CGI adds to the depth of this period piece whodunit with its stunning vistas. But, is that enough to carry off this film? Despite such an ensemble cast, I couldn't help feeling that our amassed group of fine acting talent were left wanting to do more with their characters, but instead are largely sidelined with very little dialogue of note. Branagh meanwhile, chews up every scene and with his enormous well kempt moustache arriving fifteen seconds in the room before he does, he puts together the pieces of this murder jigsaw puzzle with relative ease it seems whilst telling everybody that he is the greatest Detective the world has ever seen. And, when the ending comes and the big reveal, it's all a bit of an anti-climax really, that sees Poirot going back on his principles that have served him so well throughout his career to date - first time for everything I guess, including his Oscar worthy facial fuzz extraordinaire. A classic story that looks good on the screen and has a lot going for it, but ultimately are period piece whodunits still a drawcard for the modern audience . . . . only you can answer that one!

Depending on the success of this film, Branagh has indicted his willingness to adapt further Christie novels involving the master of investigative deduction, Hercule Poirot, and judging by the closing scenes of this film it looks as though 'Death on the Nile' could be up next.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-