Movie Review: Death on the Nile Story
PHOTO Libby
February 24, 2022
The star-studded sequel to 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Death on the Nile” arrived in theaters on Feb. 11.
When the movie first started, I believed I had walked into the wrong theater. The movie was black and white and set in 1914 during World War 1— it was very confusing to say the least. The movie flashes forward to 1937 London where we see “present” day Hercules Poirot walking into a club. Whether it be by chance or fate, Poirot witnesses the meeting of the couple whose honeymoon he would be attending in merely six weeks.
The movie mostly focuses on heiress Linnet Ridgeway (played by Gal Gadot). After a whirlwind romance with her friend’s ex-fiance, she sets off on her honeymoon with her most trusted friends and family. As the film progresses, we learn more about her guests and the potentially-fatal grudges they hold against Ridgeway which leads her to enlist the help of Poirot to ensure her safety.
Once bodies start dropping, the action doesn’t stop until the end of the film. The film does a great job of misleading the audience, leaving you in suspense of who the killer is until it is finally revealed in the movie’s third act. In a movie with so many characters that are introduced in this film, the emotional impact of death can be dulled if not done right. This movie did a great job of balancing all the different characters and making the audience care about and feel something when a character dies or is grieving.
With most murder mysteries, the make or break of the movie is how predictable the murderer is and how the killer is eventually revealed. The final reveal and the process of how the several murders were committed was unexcepted.
This story was complex and left me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next shoe to drop or for the next body to fall. There were many twists throughout the film that was simply unexpected and a welcomed surprise. I would highly recommend “Death on the Nile.” It can be watched as a standalone film, but I would recommend watching “Murder on the Orient Express” beforehand.
