A Haunting in Venice is a stylish but old fashioned whodunit 

Kenneth Branagh is back with his third go-around rebooting classic mysteries by novelist Agatha Christie. After Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022), we find Hercule Poirot (Branagh) retired in post-World War II Venice. On Halloween, novelist Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) persuades him to attend a séance, where she plans to unmask as a fraud medium Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), who has been hired by opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) to commune with her dead daughter, Alicia (Rowan Robison), who committed suicide after her American chef fiancé, Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen), ended their engagement. Also in attendance are Poirot's bodyguard, Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio); Rowena's housekeeper, Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin); the Drake family doctor, Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan), and his son, Leopold (Jude Hill); and Reynolds' assistant, Desdemona Holland (Emma Laird). When people start dying, Poirot must use his powers of deduction to reveal the killer. (103 min.)

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• Courtesy Photo By Rob Youngson/20th Century Studios
• DEBUNK MATES Novelist Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) persuades retired detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) to join her at a séance in the hopes of debunking it, in A Haunting in Venice, screening in local theaters.

Glen This is a stylishly directed and beautifully filmed (by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos) movie, in an obviously gorgeous setting. I mean, Venice! Wowzah. Unlike the sunny light of the previous film, Death on the Nile, however, A Haunting in Venice is dark and shadowy and nearly always drenched in rain, and the setting is contained in a claustrophobic and aging palazzo with a dark past. The acting is first rate, so this has all the elements of a terrific film; however, I find these Agatha Christie mysteries very old fashioned. They rely too much on exposition, but the nice thing is even if you're familiar with the source material, a 1969 novel called Hallowe'en Party, the adaptation by Michael Green (he also adapted the previous Christie films and wrote Logan, Blade Runner 2049, The Call of the Wild, and Jungle Cruise) takes enough creative license from the novel to keep you, or at least me, guessing.

Anna Unfortunately, sleuths who watch Dateline and who have a bit of a knack for guessing at whodunits may feel like I did while watching this film—I had a solid guess at the answer fairly early on; I just was watching the why and how play out on screen. It's certainly beautiful—a cramped setting filled with suspicious characters despite being held in a sprawling palazzo. Poirot starts this journey as a seemingly retired man, unwilling to help the droves of folks who congregate outside his door each day looking to him to solve their various mysteries. Branagh is a great choice for this role: refined and mustachioed. He doesn't give away too much while staying understandable. Poirot is a bit of a mystery himself, and in this film, he feels compromised by the forces around him. Voices others don't hear, shadows others don't see—he feels a bit untethered, and it proves compelling. 

Glen Yeah, well, "psychic anomalies" he encounters can come in various forms. Eventually, all is neatly revealed, and that's also the problem with these by-the-book mysteries. Everything must eventually make sense. It feels a little too pat. This is watchable for a lot of compelling reasons—mostly the acting, cinematography, and direction—but the story is pedestrian. I think it's worth a matinee, but as films goes, it's mostly glossy surface.

Anna A bit of fun that feels mostly like fluff, this sort of mystery fits neatly in that pocket. There's plenty here to sell the film: It has the cast, the money, and the ambience. It sits nice and neat in the realm of enjoyable to watch, but not necessarily super compelling. Because this type of story can't rely on being out-of-the-box surprising or horror-film scary, it must rely on painting a beautiful picture, and A Haunting in Venice does just that. It's worth a matinee if you need a little bit of Hollywood gold dust in your life. Δ

Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey and freelancer Anna Starkey write Split Screen. Comment at [email protected].