Murder on the Orient Express (Kenneth Branagh)

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So they over-scheduled us at work yesterday, meaning someone got to go home early, and I volunteered, because fuck work. Anyways, so I decided to check out this new release as a result of getting off earlier than expected, and it was sorta just meh. I haven't read the book, but based solely on its own merits, I honestly wasn't all too impressed.

A lot of the mystery is being solved via details that the main character just suddenly remembers from another story, meaning not by piecing together clues from the actual film we're watching, so it felt a bit cheapened in that way, how it didn't feel like a mystery we were actively involved with, but being artificially left in the dark on. Then the final reveal and the lead's reaction to it was just radically over-dramatic, and felt like the movie had issues balancing its tone properly all of a sudden, ending on a real dour note that felt inappropriate given the rest of the film preceding it.

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I also didn't buy that this particular case was his tipping point on what's just in the world, and what he's willing to turn a blind eye on, considering how this character was originally presented to us, so that turned me off to the film as well in the end. All of his reactions post-reveal just felt forced, and like I was suddenly watching a completely different movie starring a completely different character.

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Prior to all of this, however, it's mostly fine. The performances are alright, though again, a lot of the actual character actions feel really forced, particularly after the reveal in the end, which retroactively sorta ruins a lot of what had previously transpired. It was also pretty well shot, so there's that. But all in all, yeah, this really was just meh.