Regardless of who plays the role – which has been many actors spread across countless adaptations covering decades of film and television – the single most recognizable thing about Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot besides his impeccable investigative skills is his glorious mustache.
It’s taken for granted that the phenomenal facial furniture will be proudly displayed on the upper lip of anybody who inhabits the Belgian detective, but for some reason Kenneth Branagh decided that a black-and-white origin story explaining the who, what, when, where, and why of Poirot’s immaculately-coiffed handlebar deserved its own chunk of screentime in Death on the Nile.
It was bizarre to say the least, but it didn’t do much to entice audiences to the theater after the long-delayed sequel under-performed at the box office based partly on the pandemic, but also due to the fact half of its cast became victims of cancel culture in the interim.
Undeterred, the star and director has recruited another stacked ensemble and labyrinthine mystery for A Haunting in Venice, which releases next week. In an unexpected turn of events given the rather humdrum saga’s critical reception so far, the third installment is currently the best-reviewed of the lot after debuting to a stellar 83 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating at the time of writing.
That’s well above the 62 percent of its immediate predecessor and the 61 percent of opening chapter Murder on the Orient Express, with the supernaturally-tinged mystery on course to be deemed the best of the lot, which is just as well when the greatest scene in the entire franchise is always going to be Branagh’s decision to go full-blown MCU and explain the origins of his mustache.
Published: Sep 10, 2023 01:49 am