Murder on the Orient Express
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: November 10, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
28
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
IGNWilliam BibbianiNov 9, 2017
It’s a classy, riveting remake, and it will make you want to see even more adventures featuring this particular Poirot. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattNov 7, 2017
Branagh executes his double duties with a gratifyingly light touch, tweaking the story’s more mothballed elements without burying it all in winky wham-bam modernity. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamNov 2, 2017
Kenneth Branagh finds interesting ways to grease the wheels of this new take on the oft-filmed novel. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 9, 2017
Kenneth Branagh’s new, workmanlike interpretation of the tale will be met with different reactions from those who are familiar with the ending and those who aren’t. It makes a big difference. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonNov 9, 2017
Although Branagh delivers a film that’s reasonably watchable, the not-so-mysterious truth is that Murder on the Orient Express didn’t need to be remade. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonNov 9, 2017
Branagh the actor finds a nice balance between Poirot’s colorful flourishes and his moral seriousness. Branagh the director gives the movie the same balance, and wants the audience to have as much fun as the actors, which is true more often than not. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 8, 2017
One doesn’t expect that kind of intensity in a sedate British murder mystery, but Pfeiffer brings it. On her own, she helps Branagh make the case for his remake over the original. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldNov 8, 2017
A cheerily uneven but enjoyable adaptation of Agatha Christie’s blockbuster novel. Read full review
75
ConsequenceBlake GobleNov 8, 2017
Handsomely staged, exceptionally well-cast, and reasonably faithful, Branagh has revived Murder on the Orient Express in a highly pleasing fashion. Sure, some of its modern amenities may leave something to be desired, but this train is quite sturdy and Branagh respects the ride. Read full review
70
Village VoiceApril WolfeNov 9, 2017
Despite the bright cinematography, there’s something quaint and comforting about this film and its brand of old-fashioned storytelling, where coincidences are extremely likely, everyone somehow knows a countess, and a man puts honor above all else. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyNov 2, 2017
Given the confined nature of the material as well as its period-specific aspects, this is a yarn that does not exactly invite radical reinterpretation. As such, its appeal is confined to the traditional niceties of being a clever tale well told, with colorful characters that are fun to watch being made to squirm by the inimitable Belgian detective. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryNov 8, 2017
“Murder” may lack urgency, but it does have style. The sets, the costumes and the vistas are stunning. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 8, 2017
Branagh is a world-class actor and a fine director, and he scores stylistic points on both counts here, but this “Orient Express” loses steam just when it should be gaining speed and racing to its putatively shocking conclusion, which isn’t all that surprising — even if you haven’t read the book or seen the 1974 movie Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 8, 2017
The ending is laugh-out-loud ludicrous, and the stops (the train gets snowbound — imagine that) dictated by a very old formula. But it is the stylish journey, my friends, that matters , not the destination. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 7, 2017
Murder on the Orient Express offers audiences a deluxe journey to the past, but this pokey train goes off the rails about the time all the characters, except for Poirot, cease to matter. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 9, 2017
It looks nice, but it's not really going anywhere. Read full review
60
EmpireWill LawrenceNov 2, 2017
An enjoyable journey with a stellar cast, though the baggage we carry as modern viewers sees this ride derailed before its denouement. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonAnna SmithNov 2, 2017
If it's all a little too crowded with characters, Branagh’s pacy direction keeps the story zip along to a conclusion that’s tense even if you remember whodunnit. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinNov 2, 2017
A shade more playfulness would have gone a long way. This Orient Express clatters handsomely along, but I left the cinema wishing it had had the nerve to jump the rails. Read full review
58
The Film StageJordan RuimyNov 29, 2017
Branagh—the actor—dominates the film, with everyone else in supporting roles. Meanwhile Branagh—the director—relies on a too-colorful style and atmosphere, shooting himself in the foot by cutting short the darkness that loomed in Christie’s original vision. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyNov 8, 2017
Suspense remains a foreign concept for actor-director Kenneth Branagh. His erratic direction — more interested in cut glass and overhead shots than in suspicions and uncertainties — bungles both the perfect puzzle logic of the crime and its devious solution. Read full review
55
The AtlanticChristopher OrrJan 9, 2018
Branagh’s retelling of the classic Agatha Christie tale is visually sumptuous yet otherwise inert, a series of what are essentially cameos by performers far too gifted to waste their time like this. Read full review
55
TheWrapTodd GilchristNov 4, 2017
Ultimately, Murder on the Orient Express isn’t necessarily awful; it’s just inert, a prestige pic that’s too busy looking handsome and respectable to evoke any real intrigue or emotional involvement. Read full review
50
Vanity FairRichard LawsonDec 9, 2017
Murder on the Orient Express isn’t a bore, exactly. It’s just not what it might have been had simplicity won the day instead of big intentions.
50
SlateSam AdamsNov 16, 2017
Branagh is more preoccupied with the challenges of keeping a movie set in a series of steel tubes visually interesting than he is in engaging its story. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedNov 15, 2017
The new, inferior and totally unnecessary 2017 re-make is a sorry disappointment in which nothing measures up to the Sidney Lumet movie, including the train. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneNov 13, 2017
Contriving somehow both to dawdle and to rush, Murder on the Orient Express” is handsome, undemanding, and almost wholly bereft of purpose. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 10, 2017
To return to why Murder on the Orient Express was remade: Beats me. Maybe it’s someone’s idea of counterprogramming when every other film in the multiplex is for kids or yahoos. Maybe it’s a tax shelter. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorNov 9, 2017
Branagh finally concludes that business with another determined tapping on Poirot's own moral compass but, as his suspects face him, lined up at a trestle table across the entrance to a railway tunnel, the situation, his revelations and theirs, all feel flat and forced. Both suspense and emotion are curiously absent. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangNov 9, 2017
As cinema or literature, Murder on the Orient Express may be little more than a clever parlor trick. But in its final moments, even this overstuffed, underachieved movie offers a morally unsettling reminder that — with apologies to Chandler — the art of murder isn’t always as simple as it appears. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittNov 9, 2017
The detective is aces aboard Murder on the Orient Express. It’s the crime — and the ensuing whodunit — that doesn’t play. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaNov 9, 2017
Branagh, the actor, comes through unscathed. Branagh, the director, not so much. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 9, 2017
Midway through a middling film adaptation, like this one, you realize it’s the same old clue-delivery mechanism, in a darker mood but also a less lively one. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Nov 8, 2017
The new Murder on the Orient Express isn’t a whodunit. It’s a why’d-they-do-it. Why make a new version of a perfectly good old movie if you’re not going to do anything new? Read full review
50
The New York TimesGlenn KennyNov 8, 2017
Most radically, this is a Poirot with heart. This interpretation is a dumb idea, but Mr. Branagh, an actor of prodigious skills, can at least pull this one half off. It’s not the only dumb idea in this film, which nevertheless bounces along in a way that’s sometimes almost entertaining. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoNov 8, 2017
Murder On The Orient Express is an antique mystery that chugs along at 5-miles an hour without any turns that might jolt viewers in the slightest. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineHenry StewartNov 7, 2017
Once the film gets to the Orient Express, it's as if Kenneth Branagh is always itching to get off of it, even having Hercule Poirot at one point look over a list of names while standing atop the train for no discernible reason, except perhaps to enjoy the way the sun peeks out between two distant mountain peaks. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 7, 2017
A handsomely furnished holiday movie that should have devoted more attention to its many ornaments and less to the tinsel at the top, this Murder on the Orient Express loses steam as soon as it leaves the station. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 2, 2017
Branagh, in his direction and especially in his performance, can’t help but overdo the cheeky artificiality, which keeps Murder feeling more like a well-designed exercise than a delectable thriller. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 2, 2017
Though he succeeds in creating the most memorable incarnation of Poirot ever seen on-screen (upstaging even Johnny Depp’s competing cameo), the movie is a failure overall, juggling too many characters to keep straight, and botching the last act so badly that those who go in blind may well walk out not having understood its infamous twist ending. Read full review
42
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallNov 9, 2017
Murder on the Orient Express is prestige gone off the rails, a tony chunk of nothing that doesn’t beg the question whodunnit as much as why? Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesNov 8, 2017
Turning Poirot into an action figure with a gun is simply heresy. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 2, 2017
This film never gets up a head of steam. Read full review
25
The PlaylistDrew TaylorNov 9, 2017
Overlong and joyless, it’s the cinematic equivalent of a giant, opulent express train trapped in the snow, heaving and off balance. Buy another ticket. Skip this train. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNov 9, 2017
Murder on the Orient Express has been . . . murdered! Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 9, 2017
The current cast is cursed with the director’s lust for gravitas. Searching for emotional truth in Agatha Christie, Mr. Branagh succeeds only in killing her playfulness. Read full review
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