There may be more to Hercule Poirot than a moustache and Belgian accent, however...From this and his previous two adaptations, it's clear that Kenneth Branagh has an eccentric view of how much artistic license should be taken with this character and with Agatha Christie's plots.
Common sense suggests that instead of making so many changes, he should just start over with original characters and narratives. This film and the earlier ones are also really slow, in contrast the Christie's highly readable and enjoyable prose. Branagh may be a great actor and technically proficient filmmaker, but A Haunting in Venice is just awful and a huge waste of a talented cast.
You don't have to be a purist to find the lost, spooked Poirot in this film unfamiliar. His old friend Ariadne Oliver is also completely transformed. The changes made in her character are especially offensive and a real insult to Christie. Is no one watching over her literary estate? And why would Branagh even want make to make such changes in one of Christie's recurring characters?
The casting doesn't help. Tina Fey is better than expected but totally wrong for a role based on Christie herself. Michelle Yeoh is also not bad, though in the book Joyce Reynolds was a thirteen-year old girl. Why not just give Yeoh a more appropriate name, given all the other changes? Her two assistants, played respectively by Ali Khan and Emma Laird, are supposed to be gypsies and half-siblings. Neither one looks the part, and they don't look remotely like one another, though we are told they do. The inept casting and anachronisms keep piling up, while the story stumbles and staggers to the end.
The book Hallowe'en Party that supposedly inspired this film doesn't have the eerie, decadent Venetian atmosphere, but it's better in all other respects.
Common sense suggests that instead of making so many changes, he should just start over with original characters and narratives. This film and the earlier ones are also really slow, in contrast the Christie's highly readable and enjoyable prose. Branagh may be a great actor and technically proficient filmmaker, but A Haunting in Venice is just awful and a huge waste of a talented cast.
You don't have to be a purist to find the lost, spooked Poirot in this film unfamiliar. His old friend Ariadne Oliver is also completely transformed. The changes made in her character are especially offensive and a real insult to Christie. Is no one watching over her literary estate? And why would Branagh even want make to make such changes in one of Christie's recurring characters?
The casting doesn't help. Tina Fey is better than expected but totally wrong for a role based on Christie herself. Michelle Yeoh is also not bad, though in the book Joyce Reynolds was a thirteen-year old girl. Why not just give Yeoh a more appropriate name, given all the other changes? Her two assistants, played respectively by Ali Khan and Emma Laird, are supposed to be gypsies and half-siblings. Neither one looks the part, and they don't look remotely like one another, though we are told they do. The inept casting and anachronisms keep piling up, while the story stumbles and staggers to the end.
The book Hallowe'en Party that supposedly inspired this film doesn't have the eerie, decadent Venetian atmosphere, but it's better in all other respects.