MURDER WAS JUST THE BEGINNING.

In 1937, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) finds himself on a steamer on the Nile, trying to figure out whom among the passengers is a murderer.

Branagh donned the elaborate Poirot mustache once again after Murder on the Orient Express (2017), this time even coming up with an explanation for it in a grim WWI prologue. An entertaining cast breathe life into an essentially simple mystery and Branagh keeps up the pace; visual effects bring us to an idealized Egypt, adding to the film’s romantic luster.

So do some of the changes to the story, cleverly connecting Poirot’s unhappy past with his current case.

2022-U.K.-U.S. 127 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Novel: Agatha Christie. Music: Patrick Doyle. Cast: Kenneth Branagh (Hercule Poirot), Gal Gadot (Linnet Ridgeway-Doyle), Armie Hammer (Simon Doyle), Annette Bening, Sophie Okonedo, Tom Bateman, Russell Brand, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Rose Leslie, Letitia Wright. 

Trivia: Co-produced by Branagh and Ridley Scott. Filmed in 2019 and delayed a few years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Followed by A Haunting in Venice (2023).