mirkobozic

As it's usually the case, we got a sequel expanding on the original plotline. Scream did it too and the further they went, the more it deteriorated. Here, Wendy has a hunch that the local rollercoaster is a death trap but as it's usually the case, but people are difficult to persuade. The main protagonists try to run away from an inevitable prophecy and while you usually root for the victim, here there's a strange pleasure, primarily due to the extraordinary creativity that clearly went into the concept of individual deaths, the result of realistically improbable simultaneous coincidences. Even if it had no other merit (honestly, films like these rarely do), it has the scariest, most disgusting death scene I've ever seen in movies. The tanning bed incident makes Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ look like a spa day.

"Death on the Nile" is another jewel in David Suchet's crown so all the usual platitudes apply here as well. His haberdashery choices are always season-appropriate, so instead of felt, here we have a straw hat and a full white suit. If you can presume Mark Zuckerberg's walk-in closet is an endless sequence of grey crew neck t-shirts, here we have the opposite. The cast is brilliant as well, which especially applies to Emily Blunt as Linnet Ridgeway, JJ Feild as Simon Doyle (his other involvement in the Christie series was in Miss Marple's The Pale Horse with Julia McKenzie in the role) and Emma Griffiths Malin starring as Jacqueline de Bellefort, Doyle's ex-girlfriend who ends up stalking him on his honeymoon with Linnet. The basic premise is that the original couple, Bellefort and Doyle, are in dire straits and sleep in a room lit by candles. The film doesn't try too much to explain how someone in a situation like her can afford a luxury cruise abroad, let alone with a wardrobe rivaling Simon's new bride, but let's not obsess too much about it. The murders are almost the least interesting thing about this film since the larger-than-life personalities of the characters take center stage. Worthy of mentioning are most certainly the eccentric writer Salome Otterbourne and the androgynous vixen, Rosalie Otterbourne. Since there are many parallel analyses with Peter Ustinov's film from the 1970s, the cast is certainly superior to this one though no one beat Suchet. Especially Angela Lansbury's nutty Salome. Be it as it may, this one is worth a try and though not one of my favorites, it's still up there in the list due to the production that's on the level of feature length cinema.

This episode is quite enjoyable and the story relies on a plot device that I really love: a crime within an enclosed space with quite a few suspects. Lady Horbury is very glamorous, while Poirot seems quite smitten by the sir hostess Jane Grey. One of the things that haven't aged well in the series is how the detective, though asexual, almost seems to be stalking young women who show interest in case, like Jane. Or his nickname "Papa Poirot" in The Mystery of the Blue Train. From a sympathetic supporter to a creepy old guy. What makes this episode so interesting is the focus on Paris as a city, where the detective takes us on a walk along the city's most famous landmarks, like the Palais Chaillot, basilica Sacre Coeur. I love the narrative related to tennis too. Generally, I'd put this on my Christie watch list.