If you haven’t questioned Kenneth Branagh’s fascination with detective Hercule Poirot, you will now.
In “A Haunting in Venice,” his latest adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel, he’s in the city of canals trying to figure out if a medium is a fake and why she's interested in who killed a young girl.
That sounds thrilling – the kind of stuff that crackles on screen – but it isn’t. “Venice” flops largely because there’s too much talk and too little action.
Poirot (who’s played by Branagh) has retired and only agrees to get involved in a case when an old friend, Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) is writing a book and needs an experience that could help see it through.
She’s like something out of “His Girl Friday”; he looks like the mask used in “V for Vendetta.”
Together, they attend a séance that either could out the medium as a fraud or provide answers to the death.
Naturally, everyone’s on edge. And then? Another death occurs and Poirot tells everyone they can’t leave. One by one, he goes through the suspects. Naturally, they all seem guilty – even Oliver who has her own reasons for killing someone.
Based on Christie’s “Hallowe’en Party,” “Venice” doesn’t really take advantage of its location (even though it was switched from England). We see boats and canals but everything else is so dark you swear something from “The Nun 2” is going to jump out at any minute. And that’s where “Venice” falls short. It doesn’t have enough of those scares to redeem all of the dull conversations.
Even a peek at the cast list would suggest this should have more. Michelle Yeoh plays the medium, “Yellowstone’s” Kelly Reilly is the dead child’s mother. For good measure, there’s also Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill from Branagh’s “Belfast.” None of them makes an impression. Only Reilly’s fiancé (nicely played by Kyle Allen) shows any life.
Because Fey’s character could be construed as Christie, she gets attention, but she doesn’t take advantage. Like Branagh, she acts like she should be in something better, but isn’t.
When Poirot finally gets to the reveal, we’re so bored we don’t care who gets blamed.
While “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile” got this revival train going, it should find its endgame in “Venice.” Maybe with someone else at the helm it could muster some speed. But as long as Branagh is directing himself (and leaning into a part that has been played better by others), this is simply going to be a “Masterpiece” entry that requires a trip to the theater.
“See How They Run,” which featured a Christie play as its cornerstone, was much better at involving the audience in its mystery. This one simply dines out on its starry cast and its franchise potential.
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