Blu-ray Review: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Famous and brilliant detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) becomes embroiled in solving a murder on the Orient Express on his way back to England. The train ride is interrupted by an avalanche blocking the tracks and an onboard murder. He has to figure out who out of 12 suspects is the killer of smalltime gangster Ratchett (Johnny Depp) while waiting for the train to be dug out of the snow. He works to uncover the truth and discover the layers to the story and who Ratchett was (and how the people on the train may or may not be connected to him in the past).

Kenneth Branagh directs this update of the classic Agatha Christie mystery from a new screenplay by Michael Green who also helped write BLADE RUNNER 2049 and LOGAN with various TV series credits too. The movie has a cast of great veteran actors (Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench, Willem Defoe, and Penelope Cruz) mixed with a few up and coming actors (Daisy Ridley). Branagh manages to mix up the location of scenes within the train and right outside the train to keep the scenes fresh. The story and characters make this an entertaining mystery. The end scene even sets it up for a sequel (which is going to be Death on the Nile).

SPECIAL FEATURES:
AGATHA CHRISTIE: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT- The descendants of Agatha Christie (who manage the Christie Estate), people who have written Poirot since Agatha's death (in book, TV, and film) talk about the author and her life with family photos to illustrate it (and bits from an interview with Agatha Christie)
LET'S TALK ABOUT HERCULE POIROT- a history of the character as told by the Agatha Christie estate and the people who have written Poirot since Agatha Christie's death along with the story behind the final Poirot novel
UNUSUAL SUSPECTS which is split up into three parts for some odd reason which focuses on the cast and the characters they play and learn they invented a new character and borrowed a character from another Hercule Poirot mystery to help throw readers of the novel off the scent.

THE ART OF MURDER- production design and costume design of the movie
ALL ABOARD: FILMING MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS- a behind-the-scenes look at making the movie with cast and crew and the challenges (and advantages) presented by filming the movie in 65mm.
MUSIC OF MURDER- an interview with composer Patrick Doyle and a behind-the-scenes look at recording the score

14 deleted, extended, and alternate scenes (with optional audio commentary) including an alternate opening which gave away the central motive too early in the movie
Two theatrical trailers
A behind-the-scenes picture gallery
Film audio commentary with actor/ director Kenneth Branagh and screenwriter Michael Green

Also included in the combo pack is the movie in standard definition on DVD and a code to download/ stream a digital copy of the film.

FINAL ANALYSIS: this update of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS is quite a good mystery with great director direction and a varied cast of good actors. I highly recommend the movie and the blu-ray has a variety of fantastic extras.

This review is (c)3-2-2018 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com and look for additional content at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com