Murder on the Orient Express: Book to Movie Comparison




Kenneth Branagh, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Penélope Cruz, Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Lucy Boynton, Sergei Polunin, and Daisy Ridley in Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
The most recent adaption of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express has been out for some time now, but I only just recently watched it. I’d already seen two other movie versions and wasn’t sure how I felt about another being made. The plot is ingenious, but it does not always translate well to screen, also Hercule Poirot is an amazing but difficult to reproduce character.
          Though it had been awhile since I read the book, I could tell right away that some aspects of the story had been changed for the movie.  A whole new case (at least new to me) is created to explain why Poirot is traveling on the train.  The book does begin with him wrapping up a case, but very few details are given, whereas the movie has him giving a brief recap of the case and revealing the culprit.
          Without spoiling the movie by explaining all of changes, I can say that while the plot remains basically the same, some characters have been renamed, given new nationalities, and have had their personalities and or ages altered. Also many connections to the victim have been augmented and strengthened in the movie.
 I didn’t mind the changes since they did not drastically alter the plot, also during the movie I was made to wonder if in fact the ending would be different since details were not identical to the book.

         For the most part, I enjoyed the movie very much and I thought that Kenneth Branagh’s portrayal of Poirot was very good, accurate to the book and very likable.  While I’d like to see more of him portraying Poriot I still think David Suchet is my favorite Poriot actor.
          I would recommend the movie to anyone who is a fan of Agatha Christie stories, or old fashioned murder mysteries. I am not sure what book purists would think of the movie however. For me, the changes did not detract from the story but they may bother someone who likes book to movie adaptions to be exact.
          Whether you watch the new version, one of the older versions, or curl up with the book, Murder on the Orient Express is always an intriguing whodoneit.
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