{"id":149480,"date":"2023-09-15T18:01:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T08:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/?p=149480"},"modified":"2023-09-15T18:01:57","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T08:01:57","slug":"a-haunting-in-venice-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/a-haunting-in-venice-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"A Haunting in Venice – movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turning Agatha Christie murder mysteries into popular cinema is proving quite lucrative. So it\u2019s not surprising that for the third time Kenneth Branagh has teamed with writer Michael Green to adapt Christie\u2019s late (1969) novel Hallowe\u2019en Party for A Haunting in Venice. The unsettling supernatural thriller follows the success of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022). Branagh again assumes the role of famed detective Hercule Poirot.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s 1947. Poirot now lives in Venice, retired and in self-imposed exile. His experiences in crime, investigation and seeing the worst in humanity via World War II have caused him to give up. Even though people queue up to see him to try to talk about their individual cases, he refuses to acknowledge them. He has a bodyguard to ensure that others don\u2019t interfere with his worry-free lifestyle. Then he receives a visit from an old friend, the world\u2019s number one mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey). She has seen something she can\u2019t explain and she wants Poirot to join her at a s\u00e9ance. Despite his better judgment, the celebrated sleuth is intrigued and reluctantly agrees. The venue is a decaying, haunted palazzo, owned by famed opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). It is where Drake\u2019s daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson) died in mysterious circumstances. Then, when one of the guests is murdered \u2026 and Poirot goes to work. <\/p>\n

Despite the picturesque backdrop, I didn\u2019t particularly care about the characters. I wanted to know more about them and their backstories. Instead, I simply had to figure out whatever I could. This is a bunch of people with issues and agendas. Of course, it\u2019s convoluted and figuring out the mystery was never going to be easy. I thought the pacing was a problem. It was too slow, laborious even. I would have liked more to happen.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, the thing that stands out about A Haunting in Venice is its atmosphere. An air of foreboding makes it clear all is not right.<\/p>\n