Murder On The Orient Express

[CBStew]

If you saw the 1974 version with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot don't go to see this movie.  If you haven't seen the 1974 version then download it from Amazon.  Whatever you do, don't bother with this Kenneth Branaugh attempt at outdoing the old version.  Branaugh twists himself into a pretzel trying to show off what an original director he is.  In one scene shows three people having a conversation by putting the camera directly over their heads!   Why?  Don't ask me.  Maybe it was only to be able to say "See how innovative I am. No one has done this before."  The movie has some very attractive scenes, but then I am a sucker for 1930ish art deco.  The Albert Finney version did Agatha Christie correctly.  You watch the plot unfold slowly and then in the final scene the quirky, preposterous looking detective gathers all of the suspects together and shows that he was paying attention all along.  In this version Branaugh solves mysteries as he goes along, deflating the plot while he does it.  Oh.  The moustache.  Finney had that tiny handlebar.  So did Suchet in the PBS series.  Branaugh's moustache is a bizarre mess that Christie's prissy little detective would be too embarrassed to go out with in public.   Save your money.