Muristek
A starry cast of eccentric toffs meander downriver in this opulent but empty take on Agatha Christie’s 1937 classic
Having tussled rather inelegantly with the work of Agatha Christie once before, with 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh again sports the improbable moustache and gloopy camembert accent of her detective Hercule Poirot. In the long-delayed Death on the Nile (the second version of the book, following the Peter Ustinov-starring 1978 outing), the moustache gets its own pre-credits origin story, which is considerably more background detail than most of the other characters are afforded.
In this heavily CGI-augmented and opulently styled north African odyssey, Poirot finds himself tagging along on the honeymoon of the fabulously wealthy Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot) and her new husband, Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer). Others accompanying the happy couple include Linnet’s cantankerous champagne socialist godmother, the bride’s sour-faced former fiance, a feckless toff and his overbearing mother, and a celebrated jazz singer and her niece (the starry cast includes Annette Bening, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Russell Brand). In addition, Simon’s jealousy-crazed ex-lover (Emma Mackey) is an uninvited but unshakable spectre at the celebrations.
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