“Death on the Nile” is the sequel film to 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and is directed by and stars Kenneth Branagh — Branagh plays the title character of Hercule Poirot. With his wonderful mustache, he travels to the historical setting of the Nile River in Egypt and gets caught up in a series of murders that take place surrounding a married couple’s honeymoon. The married couple is played by Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer, while the film includes supporting performances from Letitia Wright, Annette Bening, Tom Bateman and Russell Brand.

As a point of reference, I enjoyed “Murder on the Orient Express” enough, but thought it was a bit disappointing. The direction, performances and cinematography were all great, but the characterization and final reveal didn’t keep me intrigued for the entire runtime — going into this film, I was hoping that it could improve upon some of the flaws of its predecessor.

To start off with the positives, this film continues the wonderful direction and cinematography in this series. Branagh is a well-established director in the industry and he clearly knows how to create interesting visuals and utilize camera movements that flow nicely. The setting of Egypt allows for many memorable shots of golden structures and a flowing river that carries its boatful of passengers.

In addition, the cast is star-studded and they all deliver good performances. Branagh shines once again as Poirot and builds off of the first film, as we discover more about his history and relationships from his past. He brings a couple of unique character traits and displays them subtly throughout the film that makes him feel like the most fleshed out and likable character. The rest of the supporting cast fills their roles nicely and bring a lot of charm into their characters.

Once the first murder takes place and Poirot begins to find the clues and interview suspects, the film really picks up. I felt more invested in the “whodunnit” element of this film than I did with “Murder on the Orient Express.” Even though I pieced together who the killer was fairly early on, I still enjoyed finding out the why and how of the narrative.

As far as negatives go, the main problem for me were the first two acts of the film. The first two acts give us the backstory on Poirot and set up the main characters of the story. Although this is necessary for this type of film, I thought it wasn’t entirely well-paced and was waiting for the more interesting elements to begin. Once that third act starts and Poirot puts together a list of suspects, I became much more invested in the narrative.

The characters in this film fall into the same trap as the first, where there is a big cast all playing unique roles, but oftentimes get forgotten because there’s so many people to get to. A couple of the characters get a decent amount of depth, but many others are there to just fill out the rest of the necessary roles.

Another minor flaw that I noticed in the film was some of the green screen effects. This was most noticeable in the beginning of the film when Poirot visits the Pyramids. The production obviously wasn’t able to film at this location, but the reason it stands out is because most of the other effects in the movie were seamless with the environment.

Overall, I enjoyed “Death on the Nile” about as much as “Murder on the Orient Express.” I think the first film is paced better, but this one got me more invested in the murder mystery elements in the third act. Branagh delivers some great direction while also giving the best performance in the film. Once the third act kicks in, the mystery element is fun to uncover and should satisfy fans of this genre.

It’s those first two acts and the supporting characters characterization that holds this back from being a great film, but if you enjoyed “Murder on the Orient Express,” I think you’ll have a really good time with this one as well. I’m going to give this film a B-, as it did have some narrative flaws but kept me entertained with its visuals and final act.

“I am detective Hercule Poirot, and I will deliver your killer.” A Death on the Nile Review