Kenneth Branagh remaking Murder on the Orient Express.

I’ll allow it: “Willem Dafoe is the latest actor to join director Kenneth Branagh’s star-studded remake of Murder on the Orient Express. He will join Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Josh Gad, Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr., and Branagh.” Mostly because, like the author of the linked piece, I like most of the cast and the director.  This doesn’t have the feel of a ‘Hollywood wants to squeeze more juice out of an intellectual property’ situation; more like ‘a bunch of actors realized that they had the collective juice to go have fun onscreen.’

Although obviously Hollywood wants to make their money back, sure.  The point is… the point is, I want to see Judi Dench as the Princess and Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot.  I think that I can be allowed that indulgence, surely.

Moe Lane

The original Murder on the Orient Express is, of course, one of the best murder mystery movies ever made, with its own ridiculously A-List cast.  If you’ve never seen it, you are missing out on a lot of fun. So go see it.

7 thoughts on “Kenneth Branagh remaking Murder on the Orient Express.”

  1. IIRC, and it’s been mumble years since I’ve watched the original, it’s also got some great lines and features a very small set and no big effects – it’s on a *train* that doesn’t explode – so the budget for everything but actors is … tiny, by modern Hollywood standards.
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    I can’t see how this doesn’t earn back the investment, just by the completist fans of every star you listed buying a copy on DVD…
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    Mew

      1. Most of my objection to remakes lays in that they’re usually either lazy and uninspired, or they’re actively destroying things from my youth.
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        This doesn’t seem to fit either category.
        Granted, if they try to update the story to “make it more relevant”, they’ll have lost me. But I think a person who made his way doing straight productions of Shakespeare is unlikely to do that.

  2. I remember watching the original movie in the theater, and it was great. I’d be willing to pay full price to see this one, given that cast.

    1. Dagnabbit, now I want an Alamo Brewhouse to show up near where I live, so I can pester the owners into showing the original. I’d go, and bring friends.

  3. Ahh, my favorite channeller of Shakespeare with an absurdly talented cast to work with? Now, if only they can get Johnny Depp to play something other than the Jack Sparrow clones he’s been playing for the last decade…

    Definitely will see this.

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