Death on the Nile
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: February 11, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 51 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
28
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
ABC NewsPeter TraversFeb 11, 2022
Even a lackluster script and dodgy computer effects can’t screw up the retro bliss doled out by director and star Kenneth Branagh as he sets sail for Egypt with an all-star cast of suspects who keep you guessing whodunit. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeFeb 11, 2022
Death on the Nile remains the sort of harmlessly enjoyable entertainment they used to make when … well, way back when they made this film. Read full review
60
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzFeb 9, 2022
More prickly than David Suchet and more mischievous than Peter Ustinov, Branagh plays Poirot as a tremendously fun nuisance, embracing the character’s cleverer-than-thou righteousness with glee. Whenever Branagh puts himself at the centre of the action, Death on the Nile clicks well enough to justify the whole act of big-budget copy-pasting. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 7, 2022
It’s a moderately diverting dessert that carries you right along. It never transcends the feeling that you’re seeing a relic injected with life serum, but that, in a way, is part of its minor-league charm. Read full review
60
Total FilmJane CrowtherFeb 7, 2022
A glossy, undemanding confection that doesn’t make waves, but shouldn’t be given a wide berth either. Read full review
60
Time OutOlly RichardsFeb 7, 2022
There’s an innately camp, silly quality to these star-crammed murder-mysteries. Embracing that would make Branagh’s adaptations more of a scream. Read full review
60
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiFeb 7, 2022
While it might not stand the test of time, the film is an entertaining, easy watch that works well enough. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 7, 2022
Branagh exploits a star-packed cast to distract us in all directions. The trouble is, it sometimes feels like a dozen actors signed on, then drew lots to see who was playing whom. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 7, 2022
For some of us who look back with affection on John Guillermin’s lush 1978 screen version, there’s a nagging feeling throughout that Branagh, while hitting the marks of storytelling and design, has drained some of the fun out of it. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinFeb 7, 2022
An improvement on Murder On The Orient Express, with the increased focus on Branagh’s Poirot (even with its strange moustache obsession) welcome enough to distract from the problems with some of its ensemble and its too-obvious reliance on VFX. Read full review
60
TheWrapRobert AbeleFeb 7, 2022
Branagh’s indulgences can grate, but you also sense how much he loves it all, which helps. It also helps that production designer Jim Clay’s elaborate recreations (of an age-specific steamer and Aswan’s Cataract Hotel) and Paco Delgado’s stylish period clothing make for steadily appealing visuals, and that the story is one of Christie’s more tantalizing, hot-tempered mysteries. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireFeb 11, 2022
The glittering cast of Death on the Nile is all dressed up but, alas, they have nowhere to go. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearFeb 10, 2022
Death on the Nile has its joys and flaws apart from that Armie factor, but it’s almost like trying to assess whether the appetizer course could have been slightly undercooked while an elephant stampedes over the whole dinner table. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyFeb 10, 2022
Okonedo and Bening fare best among the surprisingly lackluster cast. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussFeb 8, 2022
Overacting and silly lines sometimes distract, and the latter sound sillier in Branagh’s forced French accent (“Ah love, it is not safe”). Still, Branagh’s direction and screenwriter Michael Green, who also scripted “Orient,” add diversity and convincing emotions to the mystery mechanics. Read full review
50
Vanity FairRichard LawsonFeb 7, 2022
Christie’s cool flint is swapped out for tearful ruminations on lost love in Death on the Nile, an intermittently entertaining but otherwise tiresomely lugubrious trip down crocodile-filled waters. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleFeb 7, 2022
As it is, this “Death on the Nile,” for too long an affected and strained entertainment lacking any sense of place, floats well downstream from more bracingly constructed whodunits. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittFeb 7, 2022
Two years after the release of “Orient Express,” “Knives Out” reinvented the all-star murder mystery in a fun and refreshing fashion, and Branagh’s latest just seems stale in comparison, with no new life in this “Death.” Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangFeb 7, 2022
Christie’s story, one of her finest, is hard to screw up, even when Branagh and his returning screenwriter, Michael Green, seem bent on proving otherwise. Their movie is an often fussy, hectic confusion of old-timey pleasures and 21st century sensibilities, a mash-up that makes for some especially incongruous visual choices. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 7, 2022
A Death on the Nile that never lets us forget its quality and attention to detail, but forgets to be much in the way of fun. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJason BaileyFeb 7, 2022
A bloodless, musty museum piece stuffed with stars but dull as toast. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Feb 7, 2022
Death On The Nile feels chintzier in every respect, with a much lower-wattage cast of potential murderers and a digitally summoned exotic locale about as immersive as a screensaver. If a viewer didn’t know better, they might assume they were seeing the fourth or fifth entry in a sputtering franchise, not the direct follow-up to a global box-office hit. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeFeb 13, 2022
The camera whirls giddily, dizzy from the sparkle and spectacle, but not quite able to conceal the fact that this is an empty bauble of a movie. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 12, 2022
Like Poirot’s mustache, the movie as a whole is a waxworks. Read full review
40
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyFeb 10, 2022
The film is perfectly adequate. Branagh’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1937 murder mystery is texturally conventional, even if he’s made his own adjustments to the cast of suspects. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldFeb 10, 2022
Death on the Nile, Kenneth Branagh’s second adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot stories, forgets the simple pleasures of ensemble excess and pure messing about. Read full review
40
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganFeb 7, 2022
As the narrative gears grind through like the slow and steady paddle boat, there’s a sense that Branagh has lost a lot of the fun of Agatha Christie along with his passport - although as the credits indicate he kept a navy’s worth of digital compositors in work through the pandemic, at least they’ll be smiling. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 7, 2022
Branagh brings something spirited and good-humoured to the role of Poirot, but the film’s attempt to create some romantic stirrings to go with the activities of those little grey cells is not very convincing. Read full review
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