Really Surprised!

A Disappointing Continuation

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This version I loved. Poirot as a person delivering justice all his life, and facing a situation as this, would not easily have let the vigilantes go. It would indeed go against his principles. In all the stories he has always, no matter the circumstance, let the guilty pay the price. He has been sometimes diplomatic about it, but he has never let anyone go. He has given speeches about the justice! To let everyone get away with their deed would indeed pain him, as is so very well shown by Suchet in the end. He questions God, questions what is His true will and can he live with a God who allows revenge. The ending here is very deep and very disturbing if we think of what really happened. 12 people murdered 1 man. They had a reason. We all agree on that. But does that mean that murder is ok under certain circumstance? WE can think so, but what about Poirot? Who was always fighting for justice, not for revenge? I do not think it would be so easy for him. And this is why I really appreciate this version. Here we see the character of Poirot take on flesh beyond the books, we see him become a real person.

I have enjoyed the Poirots immensely but this and the few surrounding it have puzzled me. Poirot seems so much more angrier in these episodes than I remember him being before. Instead of charmingly uncovering the murderer he has been yelling at them and judging them. Not what I remember. This made the movie difficult to watch and the ending done badly, if you ask me. Otherwise, I recommend David Suchet in the role of Poirot highly, view all of the earlier seasons and enjoy them, but I think I will skip this one next time around.

I was stunned by the emotional intensity that David Suchet brought to this role. I have always felt that the character in the novels and in the earlier seasons of the series was immutable and thereby incomprehensible - a criminal superhero who readers and viewers could count on to consistently find the murderer but who at best, is only admirable for his talents. The last scene of Murder on the Orient Express, where Poirot walks away in tears knowing that he has been forced to make a terrible decision created for me, for the first time, something real. Highest praise to the writers, producers and actors of this episode for bringing Poirot alive. Although he is aged, tired, sick, and morally conflicted, the episode creates a doorway by which Poirot becomes something reflecting the human condition in its particularity as opposed to just the trivial diversion of a static, invariable genius.

I have read through many of the reviews on here, it's fair to say on first viewing, which I think was Christmas time a few years ago, I didn't like it, too much of a fan of the Albert Finney fan, but on the second viewing I'll be honest I fell in love with it. I can imagine when they were in the pre-production stages they came up with the 'dark' theme, it's such a contrast to the movie. Toby Jones is brilliant in the role of villain, he plays his scenes with such venom, a great actor, totally loathsome. I think I originally found the stoning scene a little distasteful during Christmas TV, but it's there to set the tone. David Suchet is on his A game here and gives a masterclass to the rest of the cast, he is outstanding. You get a true sense of claustrophobia on the train when they are marooned, and the obvious cold they would have encountered is definitely evident. Poirot's summing up seems more as to what I would have believed in with Poirot, a sense of injustice. The closing scene had me in tears on the second viewing, it is truly brilliant.This version is also superior to the 2017 remake, and although Kenneth Branagh was excellent as Poirot, David Suchet will always be Christie's famous character.