Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Reilly
Intro:
… an old fashioned whodunnit beautifully shot and brilliantly acted …
The problem with Agatha Christie adaptations is one of intense familiarity. The revered author’s output was alarmingly prolific (66 novels and 14 short story collections, thank you very much) but thus far, Hollywood seems to have been content using the same handful of texts as a basis for their moving pictures.
Murder on the Orient Express alone has four adaptations, and although it’s a cracking little yarn (with an all-timer of an ending twist), it does rather take the wind out of a whodunnit’s sails when pretty much everyone on earth is familiar with exactly who dunnit.
Happily, Kenneth Branagh, director and star of this latest incarnation of Christie’s beloved Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, wisely chose to adapt a lesser known yarn from Agatha’s back catalogue and the result is a moody, twisty and engaging mystery with a cast that can’t be beat.
A Haunting in Venice (based on Christie’s Hallowe’en Party) continues the story of Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), who is living in Venice, retired, and spends his days turning down cases and munging on delicious pastries. Truly living the dream. However, famous crime scribe Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) manages to convince ol’ mate Hercule to attend a seance to help discredit popular medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh). Before you can say “man, this is a stacked cast!”, one of them is dispatched in a surprisingly grisly fashion (shades of Dario Argento-esque giallo here, pleasingly) and Poirot is on the case once again.
Branagh’s latest Christie adaptation benefits from a more sombre tone than previous entries, playing out like a ghost story for much of its runtime. Eerie voices, phantasmagorical reflections and things that go bump in the night occur throughout, and Poirot himself wonders if perhaps his rather black and white views on the supernatural may need some room for a few shades of grey. The cast are also excellent this time around, with Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh and Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone’s Beth) doing particularly fine work here.
The story itself is adapted by screenwriter Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049) and manages to remain an entertainingly grim potboiler throughout. Of course, by the end, the status quo is mostly restored, and the identity of the killer probably won’t prove to be all that surprising for many, but for those in the mood for an old fashioned whodunnit beautifully shot and brilliantly acted then A Haunting in Venice has more than a ghost of a chance at providing a good time.
