Death on the Nile fails to meet the high standard of its predecessor Murder on the Orient Express. That being said the film is beautifully shot and the final act is an overall fun mystery ride. The film is generally well acted and directed. One negative is that the audience is just told things a little too much. Murder on the Orient Express had a little more set up and the audience felt more of a part of the mystery early on. That aspect of storytelling felt diminished in this sequel. The mystery does not really pick up until the final act and even then some things are just explained by Detective Poirot without any of the tantalizing intrigue that the first film possessed. Murder on the Orient Express had an amazing twist with good people doing a bad thing which made the audience seriously reflect on the right and wrong of the crime. Unfortunately, Death on the Nile's big twist of bad people doing a bad thing for money felt a little flat. Murder on the Orient Express was a work of art. Death on the Nile is a decent mystery movie.

Just too much unnecessary stuff in this film. From unnecessary (or just contrived) scenes ... to unnecessarily overdone CGI imagery. And don't get me started about the unnecessary historical inaccuracies. It all just distracted me from the film itself...which I found to be overconfidently flashy and show-offish. Pretentious.

I hope a genius like Kenneth Branagh can find another outlet for his directorial style and leave Dame Christie alone. I guess he fancies himself Poirot and wants that role. Like with Orient Express, he is not all that interesting. If anything, he gets a little too flamboyant at times. The story is great in the book. Here it plods along, taking nearly the first half for anything to happen. It's more than exposition. In one scene there is a menu of characters presented to the viewer. Show them. Don't tell them. I have to say I was disappointed because I was told by a friend that this was really an excellent movie. Live and learn.