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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2022)
WHAT’S IN THE THEATERS AROUND EASTERN OREGON 15 NOW PLAYING FEBRUARY 16�23, 2022 Kenneth Branagh’s whodunit sets sail, but is it worth the trip? ‘Death on the Nile’ By Moira Macdonald The Seattle Times T hese days — let us hope, for not too much longer — a movie has to be something special to lure an audience into a theater, something you just can’t wait to see, something that would be diminished if watched on a screen at home. Unfortunately, Kenneth Branagh’s “Death on the Nile” is not one of those movies. It’s a perfectly serviceable entertain- ment, albeit one that’s been hit with more than its share of bad luck: multiple delays of its origi- nal December 2020 release date, due to the pandemic and to sexual assault allegations against star Armie Hammer (who’s been neatly reduced to blink-and-you’ll-miss-him status in the movie’s trailer). But it’s just a little fl at, like a party — remember those? — full of interesting guests that none- theless has more than its share of awkward pauses. As director and star, Branagh gets both the credit and the blame. He’s a delight as Agatha Christie’s famed Belgian detec- Rob Youngson/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation From left, Gal Gadot, Emma Mackey and Armie Hammer in “Death on the Nile.” tive Hercule Poirot, a portrayal fi rst unveiled in Branagh’s 2017 fi lm “Murder on the Orient Express.” Just the way he pronounces “vege-tables” is a feast, as is the way this me- ticulous gentleman carefully adjusts a corpse’s legs so as to be more symmetrical, and fusses over the possibility of an odd number of desserts. The fi lm even gives us a mustache origin story — Poirot’s eely facial hair is a trademark — and a poignant romantic past. But while I’d happily watch an entire movie purely about how Poirot became a detective in the fi rst place, here we’re focused mostly on a few days in 1937. In typical Christie fash- ion, an assortment of distinc- tive and elegantly dressed folk — among them a beautiful heiress (Gal Gadot), her brand- new husband (Hammer), a romantic rival (Emma Mackey), a jazz singer (Sophie Okonedo), Poirot’s right-hand-man Bouc (Tom Bateman), Bouc’s arch mother (Annette Bening), among others — assemble in the glamorous setting of Egypt (i.e., some hardworking British soundstages) on a posh yacht. Tensions are fl ared, eyebrows are raised, a gun is fi red ... and just like that, somebody’s dead, and Poirot needs to fi gure out whodunit. Herein, though, lies a big part of the problem. In “Murder on the Orient Express,” the char- acter bumped off was certainly the one I’d have voted off the metaphorical island; in “Death on the Nile,” it’s the one who’s pretty much been holding the movie together, and things seem stale once that person is gone. And while Poirot is always witty, few of the other characters are. Michael Green’s screenplay often feels weirdly detached, like we missed some crucial early scenes that tell us why we should care about these people. All that said, it’s no great hardship to watch “Death on the Nile”; it looks pretty, feels pleasantly old-school and is over within shouting distance of the two-hour mark. I’m hoping, though, that we haven’t seen the last of Branagh’s Poirot; I suspect he might have a few more cases up his elegantly tailored sleeve. Get your coolers ready, sunshine and spring is in the air! We have all your supplies for picnics, fishing and camping! 214 W North St. • Enterprise, OR • 541-426-4824