A Haunting in Venice review: A whodunnit that is not as chilling as it would like to be
THE name, plot, location and most of the characters have been changed in this whodunnit based on Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party.
And why director and star Sir Kenneth Branagh chose to do this is not entirely a mystery.
As a title, Hallowe’en Party sounds like a cheap slasher.
The original story was not well received by critics. There were too many characters in the book.
And Venice is certainly a more film-friendly location than a fictional English town.
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What has survived this cull is great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, played for the third time by Branagh, along with the Halloween party itself and Poirot’s murder mystery writer friend Ariadne Oliver.
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Casting comic actress Tina Fey as Ariadne is this production’s masterstroke.
At last Branagh has a sidekick to bounce off in the form of gentle tease Fey, who gleefully delivers put-downs such as describing Poirot as the “number two” greatest detective.
They are a fine double act, able to switch tone with ease.
One minute they are sharing jokes, the next they are discussing the existence of God.
It is Ariadne who tempts Poirot out of retirement to attend a seance on Halloween at a run-down palace in Venice.
Poirot only agrees to attend to prove that the psychic, Joyce Reynolds, is a fake.
But he ends up having to stay in order to solve a murder.
As with Branagh’s previous two Poirot movies, much of the cast are hit and miss.
Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh proves her class as icy mystic Joyce.
Young Jude Hill from Branagh’s film Belfast demonstrates that he’s a talent to watch.
And French actress Camille Cottin intrigues as the help, Olga Seminoff.
But model-turned-actor Jamie Dornan fails to convince as a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
And the rest of the cast failed to persuade me that they feared for their lives.
As a result, this whodunnit is not as chilling as it would like to be.
But it did have me guessing the killer’s identity right up until the big reveal.
A Haunting In Venice is an enjoyable trip, but one that does not leave much of an impression.
Grant Rollings