Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Plot: In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to uncover the killer once again.
Review: Hercule Poirot might not be as well known (to some) as Sherlock Holmes, but the Belgian detective is no amateur when it comes to solving complex mysteries, even the supernatural ones.
Returning as the mustachioed master of mysterious murders (try saying THAT five times fast) is Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) who is pulled out of retirement by friend Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) a pseudo stand-in for real life Poirot creator and author, Agatha Christie. Ariadne’s last few books haven’t sold well so she convinces Poirot to join her at a séance hosted at an old but vast mansion in Venice with the hopes of proving that a medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) is a fraud.
As the eerie night unfolds a murder takes place and all the guests, which include former opera singer and grieving mother Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) – the person who hired Reynolds to contact her dead daughter Alicia – ex-military doctor with severe PTSD Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan), siblings Desdemona and Nicholas (Emma Laird and Ali Khan respectively) housekeeper Olga (Camille Cottin), Alicia’s ex-boyfriend Max Gerard (Kyle Allen) and the doctor’s precocious young son Leopold (Jude Hill) as well as Poirot’s own bodyguard Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio) are suspects.
I love a good mystery (who doesn’t?) but what drew me to this particular Poirot mystery was the added element of the supernatural. Unlike Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, this investigation has a truly haunting tone to it, richly brought to life by the cinematography and camera angles Kenneth Branagh (who has also directed these films) chose for this outing.
With heavy use of natural lighting, Dutch angles, severe close ups and lenses that either looked like a bird’s eye view or that of fish in a glass bowl, these visual effects evoked feelings of discomfort which made the possible supernatural occurrences chilling in a way that was delightfully unexpected.
Having never read the books I did my research and found out the movie takes a ton of liberties with the source material. While this can be off-putting for readers, it also means even long-time Agatha Christie fans can view this with the mystery wholly intact, so I think in this case it was a smart choice.
The actors here are all great in their roles, delivering the type of performances that will leave you guessing for most of the runtime. And the thoughtful writing behind their characters created people who were fully fleshed out and capable of both good and bad instead of just wooden caricatures (an issue I had with Death on the Nile). Of the three movies thus far, this one was the creepiest and I enjoyed it immensely even though the mystery itself wasn’t as difficult to figure out as one would expect.
Kenneth Branagh’s love of the classics is on full display here. A Haunting in Venice looks and feels like some of the best gothic movies I’ve seen. Think 1963’s The Haunting or 1973’s The Legend of Hell House but with Branagh’s own unique touches and you’ll have an idea of what this movie delivers.
I’m not sure what your favourite Hercule Poirot story is but I think I’ve found my favourite in A Haunting in Venice.
Sommer’s Score: 7.5 out of 10
Which of Branagh’s Poirot films has been your favourite so far? And if you pay attention you can deduce even more mystery content below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More