A HAUNTING IN VENICE (2023)

 

DEATH IS JUST THE BEGINNING…

In 2017, actor / director Kenneth Branagh brought the classic and beloved murder mystery drama of novelist Agatha Christie to the silver screen with the release of Murder on the Orient Express. Directed and starring in the lead role by Branagh himself, the film, which also had the talents of Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench amongst several others, followed the exploits of one eccentric, yet super sleuth detective Hercule Poirot as he pieces together a murder case that occurred upon the Orient Express train. While this wasn’t the first adaptation Christie’s famed, this version of Murder on the Orient Express boasted a solid cast and the production value and, while some drew criticism on the feature’s screenplay and sluggish pacing, the film still managed to collect over $350 million at the global box office against its $55 million production budget. This was enough for the studio at the time (20th Century Fox) to move forward with a follow-up adventure of Christie’s Poirot detective, with 2022’s Death on the Nile being released several years later. With the movie following yet another mystery surrounding the death of a wealth heiress on her honeymoon trip in Egypt, Branagh himself returned to both directing and starring as Poirot was once again, with his co-stars Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, and Letita Wright filling out the supporting characters in the movie. Death on the Nile received mixed reviews from critics and moviegoers, with the film grossing $137 million at the box office worldwide against its production budget of $90 million. Now, a year after the release of last film, 20th Century Fox and returning director Kenneth Branagh return to the classic tale of an old-fashioned murder mystery capper with the release of A Haunting in Venice. Does this latest Hercule Poirot tale follow the clues to its satisfying ending, or does it spooky nuances become a distraction from Christie’s famous detective story?

Ten years after solving the murder case of heiress Linnet Ridgeway in Egypt, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is retired, trying to find solace and peace of mind within the comforts of Venice, Italy, protected by manservant bodyguard Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio), who keeps the public away as they beg for assistance from the famous detective. Breaking through his solitude is Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a popular mystery novelist who is stuck in a rut with her recent releases and looking for new inspiration, pulling Poirot into a nearby Halloween visit to the nearby venetian villa of Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), a retired opera singer who is looking to hold a séance, attempting to reach “the other side” and contact her daughter, Alicia (Rowan Robinson), who suddenly died a short time ago. Skeptical, Poirot is a non-believer in the supernatural, joined by Ariadne, who’s hoping for something “special” to happen, but strangeness arrives with Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), a known medium who is confident in her psychic abilities, ready to connect the great beyond and locate Rowena’s daughter. During her ritual ceremony, Reynolds achieves her goal, but Poirot plans to debunk the performance as a setup. However, such motives are tested when a dead body is soon after discovered, inspiring the detective to lock down the villa and learn more about the partygoers, including Alicia’s ex-fiancé Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen), Rowena’s housekeeper Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin), Rowena’s family doctor Dr. Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan), and several others, and their personal motives.

Borrowing my lines from my review of Death on the Nile, I will be the first admit that I loved Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express. Of course, like many out there, I knew a vague understand of Christie’s classic murder mystery novel, with the tale being told having that iconic pop-culture reference. Despite that, however, I really didn’t know the actual story of the Orient Express, with maybe the exception of Hercule Poirot, Christie’s Belgian eccentric detective. Looking past all of that, I do like a good murder mystery, especially one that has that classical feeling of “old school murder mystery” feeling throughout as well as having that visual aesthetics of a period piece drama. Thus, the combination of all that works in Branagh’s favor with his 2017 remake film of the beloved murder mystery novel. I did see the original 1974 film, with actor Albert Finney as Poirot, but I did see it after watching Branagh’s version. Of the two, I think that Branagh was slightly better, which is mostly due to the more diverse cast that fill out the “suspected” supporting players of the story as well as the stylish production quality in updated filmmaking cinematics. Still, I did feel that the new movie didn’t bring much difference from the 1974 version, which I understand why several people had mixed opinions on this new iteration. Altogether, I think what Branagh did with Christie’s narrative is something cinematic / technical great and perhaps one of the main reasons why I found his interpretation of Murder on the Orient Express to be enjoyable and entertaining to watch every now and again.

Of course, I was excited to see Death on the Nile to see Branagh returning to play Poirot again, but, while I was expecting to see the film come out a year or two after the 2017 Orient Express, the film was delayed several times, with one being Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox (shuffling scheduled releases) as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, which further delayed the project until 2022. So, when I did finally get to see the movie, I enjoyed it. Of course, my thoughts on this follow-up sequel were better than most, but I still found that it was a bit inferior to its predecessor. Perhaps it was because of the sluggish pacing in the first half and that the actual “murder mystery” aspect of the feature doesn’t really start until halfway throughout the feature. Still, for better or worse, Death on the Nile managed to be entertaining, especially since I love Branagh coming back to play Poirot and I did like the ensemble cast for this project.

As mentioned, A Haunting in Venice sees the return of Kenneth Branagh to the directing chair for the project as well as the lead protagonist of the feature. I’ll mention his acting in the movie and little further down in my review. For now, let’s talk about the directing portion of Branagh. For those who don’t know, Branagh has dabbled in film directing for quite some time. Not just only helming 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, but also other notable projects like Hamlet, Thor, and Cinderella. Thus, the credibility of the Branagh’s direction is sound. Well, maybe not 2020’s Artemis Fowl, but we don’t talk about that movie. For this film, Branagh seems quite focused at the task at hand and jumps right into the main plot of the feature. This, of course, is a much improvement made from Death on the Nile that had its first act feel very elongated and slowly plodding away through characters and events before actually getting to the main plot of the tale. Branagh seems to realize the problems with the previous installments and approaches A Haunting in Venice with a much better sense of what’s important to the main story and sort of “jumps” right into the plotting of the tale after a brief introductions sequence. Thus, majority of the movie feels like its part of the “murder mystery” aspect rather than “setting up” characters and their motives. To be sure, those said character motivations are still present and play out as one would expect in this type of genre presentation, but it’s a bit more refined and pulled together with a tighter feel, which is a good thing for both Branagh’s talent as a director and for the film itself.

Retired from the spotlight, Hercule Poirot’s faith is tested when a murder is committed, and he must trust his instincts against suspicious suspects and supernatural paranoia in the movie A Haunting in Venice. Director Kenneth Branagh’s latest film sees the actor / director return to playing the famous detective super sleuth and delivers another classic iteration of murder mystery that’s one part drama and one part atmospheric of spooky thrills within the venetian setting. While the movie does stumble in some of his predictable nature that comes with the territory of the genre as well as some underdeveloped areas in plot and character (due to its limited scope), but the film still manages to rise above those parts, with special details thanks to Branagh’s direction, a great visual presentation, some good horror tones and thematic nuances, and a solid cast across the board.  Personally, I liked this movie. Yes, it definitely had its limitation in both scope and storytelling elements as well as trying to juggle some of its side characters properly, but I felt it was an improvement made from Death on the Nile for a more compounded narrative and a tighter presentation all the way around for a more effective “whodunit” yarn. Much like before, the movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but merely refines it, which is a good thing in my book. I think that Murder on the Orient Express is still the best of the three, while this movie is better than Death on the Nile. Thus, my recommendation for this movie would be a solid and favorable “recommended”, especially those who were a fan of the first two movies as well as those who crave that particular “murder mystery” angle in their cinematic viewings. The future for Branagh’s Hercule Poirot is left open-ended, much like the character at the end of the movie, with the possibility left elusive. Will Branagh adapt another Agatha Christie novel or will this film wrap up the endeavor as trilogy style structure. Who knows….only time will tell. Yet, I for one, would love to see another movie. Regardless of if one materializes or not, A Haunting in Venice is still an entertaining watch and takes a familiar (yet differentially bold) path through the classic capper of murder, suspicious, and betrayal within the cinematic visual work of one quirky Belgian detective who is known to the world as Hercule Poirot.

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