A Haunting in Venice Movie Review: Great atmospherics but not completely involving

A Haunting in Venice released in theatres today

Film: A Haunting in Venice
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Yeoh, Riccardo Scamarcio
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 3/5
Runtime: 104 min

Kenneth Branagh's fascination for Agatha Christie's mysteries has gotten him to direct this third outing, an atmospheric, horror indented adaptation, ‘A Haunting in Venice.' Murder on the Orient Express, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Johnny Depp, had a retro style that was eye-catching while Death on the Nile had a less-famous ensemble cast and did not quite come good. In both his previous adaptations of Christie novels, he directed and played the cerebral Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and in this one too he dons that very same mantle - albeit a little more sombre, less assured and decidedly less pompous. He appears to be finding his feet again…

Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a mystery novelist who made her name by fictionalizing the misadventures of the Belgian detective, cajoles Poirot out of self-imposed retirement to attend a Halloween-night séance taking place at a former opera singer, Rowena Drake's (Kelly Reilly) haunted palazzo where the death of Drake's daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson) occurred under inexplicable tragic circumstance. Ariadne basically needs Poirot to debunk a clairvoyant, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) who she is certain is a charlatan.

This story which occurs in 1947, is very loosely based on a late-career Christie novel, Hallowe'en Party (1969). Scriptwriter Michael Green alters the plot, changes some characters, adds new ones and also shifts the book's English country house location to Venice. But that does not make it entirely kosher.

The film opens with intriguing dark cinematography, creating a sombre, expectant mood for some nattily designed haunting moments. Venice, a city besieged by water looks beautiful in the dim reflection of the canal waters. Most of what happens takes place in the gloomy, spooky, run-down palazzo which, as the back story goes, was once an orphanage where children were locked up to die during the great plague. The scenario is cliched no doubt but the camerawork is fairly beguiling. Branagh's longtime cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos does well to expose the inherent darkness of a space in which several inhabitants have died tragic deaths.

As expected, all suspects are assembled in a common area so that Poirot can make his lists and conduct their questioning unhindered. The suspects also include Alicia's ex-fiancé (Kyle Allen), Poirot's Italian bodyguard (Riccardo Scamarcio), Doctor Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) who suffers from PTSD, his precocious son (Jude Hill), Reynold's two assistants and Rowena's Housekeeper (Camille Cottin). Of the cast, Cottin, Jude Hill, Michelle Yeoh and Branagh himself, make their presence felt. The rest just appear to be winging it.

This mystery plays out on expected lines. So there's not many surprises to be had.