Well, life is good when Agatha Christie's Inspector Hercule Poirot is on screen. The first of three new Poirot films that will be airing/aired on PBS as part of this seasons Masterpiece Mystery. Let us begin.
Murder on the Orient Express starts out with Poirot solving a case in Istanbul when he's called back to London. Off he goes and encounters Xavier Bouc, who manages the Orient Express and gets Poirot a last minute ticket to board. Characters galore appear and introduce themselves. Well, if you know the drill by now a murder happens. Pretty gruesome one in fact, what a way to go. Inspector Poirot is on the case and taking names. I want to add more but I'd be giving away some major spoilers and it would just kill the story for anyone not familiar with it. Overall this was the best Poirot movie to date. It doesn't matter that their was a motion picture done before, that this is a remake or that you know the story or read the book a hundred times before. It matters on how you tell that story on the screen and how it's presented that makes or breaks it.
What was Good: Every new Poirot film looks better than the last. This film looked incredible. The cinematography, direction, the color were excellent. The coloring I especially loved, it was rich but subdued at the same time, gave such an eerie feel. The look was fantastic. The costumes, makeup, hairstyles all looked period correct and weren't over done. The cast was phenomenal. As always for a Christie adaption the casting directors go all out and get well known faces or hire newbie actors that hit it out of the ball park. Susie Parriss did an excellent job with casting, can't stress that enough. On a totally not important note but made me happy, the American accents were spot on. I must give huge credit to the screenwriter Stewart Harcourt who wrote and excellent script and colorist John Claude. I think I love that man, I was in love with the color.
Let me go into a bit more about the cast members that stood out for me because I can't express enough how excellent the cast was. David Suchet as Poirot was excellent as always but he even out did himself. There is this scene were Poirot is praying, something new to show about this man that we haven't seen before in previous films, it was so moving. Suchet really opened himself up at showing and hiding Poirot's feelings. His beliefs on whats right/wrong and how a person should act upon that knowledge of right and wrong. The last scene of this film, the way the shot lingers on his face and his emotions that he's subtly expressing, amazing. My dream wish would be that he gets an Emmy nomination for his performance. Hugh Bonneville, David Morrissey, Eileen Atkins and Toby Jones were all spot on and just as excellent as they always are.
Actors I'm not to familiar with such as Canadian actress Marie Josee Croze and American actress Jessica Chastain were excellent. I was so drawn to them. There scenes were so good they stood out above some of the seasoned pros. Croze had a dozy of a scene with Suchet about protecting children, Chastain had a hell of a dozzy scene again with Suchet about whats right/wrong and how it's unfair when everything just blows up. A very international cast, as is always in most Christie adaptions. Shout outs to French actors Denis Menochet, Serge Hazanavicius, and Stanley Weber, American actors Brian J. Smith and Barbara Hershey, German actress Susanne Lothhar, and the rest of the cast Elena Satine, Samuel West and Joseph Mawle. The entire main cast needs to be named, everyone brought their A game.
What was Bad: Nothing. My one and only complaint is that Hugh Bonneville and David Morrissey didn't have more screen time.
My Last Words: Best Agatha Christie Poirot film made to date starring David Suchet as the brilliant sleuth. A must watch for Christie fans, Suchet fans, Poirot fans and for everyone who loves good drama, good mystery and just plain old good television.
More info about the program can be found here
http://http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/poirot/orientexpress.html
No comments:
Post a Comment