On a holiday at the pyramids of Giza, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) bumps into his friend Bouc (Tom Bateman) who invites the renowned detective to attend the lavish wedding celebration of Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot) and Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer). When Simon’s ex-fiancé, Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey) has been discovered following the newlyweds, the party moves aboard the S.S. Karnak to escape her prying, jealous eyes. When one of the passengers is found murdered, the festivities quickly end as everyone is a suspect in the eyes of Poirot. 

Branagh returns to direct and star in his second Agatha Christie adaptation penned by screenwriter Michael Green, now under the Twentieth Century Studios umbrella. Trading in the snow-covered tracks of the Orient Express for the sun-soaked deserts of Egypt, Death on the Nile retains the bold, elegant style of its predecessor while also seeking to humanize Poirot with some insight into his past as an English soldier during World War I. With a runtime of only 127 minutes, Green’s film wastes little time with setup and does not slow down until the mystery is solved. The cast list runs long, and while the star power lacks some of the luster of Branagh’s initial outing, Nile still boasts Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazel, Sophie Okonedo, and Letitia Wright among others. 

Admittedly, the prologue to the film fills one with dread, even more so when it is releveled that it is mostly the backstory behind the choice of facial hair for Branagh’s Poirot. Thankfully, it is well contained and not something that will be doled out in numerous flashback sequences, but it does help to inform us of the story we are about to witness. The film will combat sequel syndrome quite well as it will often call back to this short preamble in ways that will help drive the theme of the crime later committed, but the rocky start is more than enough to lead one to worry.  

Once in Egypt, the film really picks up speed as we are introduced to the large cast of soon-to-be suspects and desperately try to keep up as their tangled relationships are quickly revealed to us. Revel in this moment as it will be one of the only times we will have knowledge that Poirot does not – a murder will occur. With costumes designed by JobanJit Singh and Jim Clay leading the production design, the film is opulent, bold, and highly stylized. The images are glossy like the cover of a magazine, and while the monuments of Egypt – as with most of the film’s exteriors – do feel very manufactured, once aboard the Karnak, the meticulous design of the interiors blends well with the costuming to create a more singular image. The interiors still have a very artificial look to them,, but it is less jarring with the rest of the production design than the exterior shots.

The crime itself here is much simpler than before, though the motivations may still slip through audiences’ fingers. Green’s script, informed by Christie’s iconic work, lays a careful trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow and the mystery is much simpler than aboard the Orient Express. It is not to say that Nile is boring, in fact it is packed with action as well as twists and turns. It is interesting, however, that there are not many red herrings in the film and everything we see does come back into play. It makes for a much more enjoyable film as we can follow along with Poirot and not simply watch and wait for the third act reveal. 

Death on the Nile works well as a sequel to Murder on the Orient Express (2017) as it refines what worked on the first film and improved upon the weaker points. With some 30 additional novels to pull from, the series has potential for growth and the large, star-studded ensembles are always a treat to see on screen. Despite the potential, it does beg to question just how much the filmmakers can return to the well before the law of diminishing returns proves true. Nile is definitely a step in the right direction for the continuation of Poirot’s exploits displayed on screen, and Branagh’s clear adoration of the source material – strongly evidenced in the inclusion of, and commenting on, Poirot’s backstory – leads us to believe at least a third installment will find its way to screens.