GONDOLAS WITH SOME WIND (A HAUNTING IN VENICE)

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Ever since his first film 'Henry V' snapped up three Oscar nominations in 1990 including two for him, Kenneth Branagh has been able to do pretty much whatever he likes as a director.

His movie adaptations of Shakespeare have attracted very starry casts.

The Belfast born actor has also dabbled in big budget blockbuster franchises like Marvel's 'Thor' and Paramount's 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit'.

Disney even turned to him to helm its live action version of 'Cinderella'.

© 20th Century Studios

Not everything he had made has been gold - 'Peter's Friends' or 'Artemis Fowl,' anyone?

However his underrated adaptation of 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,' his sumptuous version of 'Hamlet' and his semi-autobiographical 'Belfast' would all look great on any director's CV.

In recent years, Branagh has turned his attention to making big screen adaptations of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries, with 'Murder On The Orient Express' and 'Death On The Nile'.

And so here we are again, with a third adventure featuring Poirot and a star studded cast that includes Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly and two collaborators on 'Belfast,' Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill.

© 20th Century Studios

Set 10 years after the events of 'Death On The Nile,' we find the famous Belgian sleuth passing the time in Venice, having effectively retired.

A bit of a recluse, he is living in a state of despair at the state of humanity post the Second World War.

Poirot has employed Riccardo Scamarcio's Vitale Portfoglio, a former policeman, as his bodyguard.

However he is tracked down by Tina Fey's old acquaintance, the author Ariadne Oliver who talks him into accompanying her to a Halloween party where a seance is due to take place.

© 20th Century Studios

The seance is being conducted by Michelle Yeoh's medium Joyce Reynolds.

Oliver asks Poirot to help her decipher whether the former First World War nurse is the real deal as a psychic or if she is perpetrating a giant fraud.

Arriving at the Palazzo of Kelly Reilly's former opera singer Rowena Drake, Poirot learns that the host's daughter, Rowan Robinson's Alicia died in a suspected suicide after her boyfriend, Kyle Allen's Maxime Gerard broke off the engagement.

Joyce Reynolds has been asked by Rowena to make contact with Alicia from beyond the grave.

© 20th Century Studios

Before the seance occurs, Poirot and Oliver observe the comings and goings at a children's Halloween party at the palazzo where they encounter other people who will attend the seance.

These include Jamie Dornan's haunted Second World War medic Dr Leslie Ferrer and his precocious son, Jude Hill's Leopold.

They come across Camille Cotton's housemaid Olga Seminoff too.

Observing the seance, Poirot deduces Miss Reynolds has two assistants present in the room, Ali Khan's Nicholas Holland and his half-sister, Emma Laird's Desdemona to feed her information.

© 20th Century Studios

However when Joyce starts to speak in the voice of Alicia, everyone is suddenly unsettled.

A Halloween storm rages outside on the Venice canals.

Unable to go home and rattled by what they have just witnessed, the guests remained holed up in the palazzo.

As we know from previous Poirot mysteries, that's never a good thing.

© 20th Century Studios

Eventually murders are committed. 

But who is responsible? 

An adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1969 novel 'Halloween Party,' 'A Haunting In Venice' radically reworks a plot that has only featured in radio and TV adaptations before.

With no other film version to compare it to, unlike Branagh's previous adaptions, this gives him a degree of freedom that he didn't have before to shape audience expectations.

© 20th Century Studios

Branagh, therefore, relocates the action in Christie's novel from a stately home in England to Venice.

He devises a more gruesome death for the first murder victim and he turns Joyce from a 13 year old into a much older psychic.

The Venice setting and the theme of familial loss inevitably invites comparisons with Nic Roeg's 'Don't Look Now'.

In fact, Branagh enthusiastically ramps up the sense of Gothic horror, a la Edgar Allan Poe and Daphne Du Maurier.

© 20th Century Studios

What he winds up with is a stodgy confection - overstuffed with ideas but lacking cohesion.

Like all his Poirot movies, it's very pleasant on the eye thanks to another collaboration with the Greek cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos.

The period detail is exquisite  on the set and also in the way the costumes are designed.

However the pacing is cumbersome and the acting is at times very hammy.

© 20th Century Studios

Branagh trots out the usual heavily accented performance but seems to have lost the focus that made his previous forays into Poirot's world interesting.

Fey, Dornan, Yeoh, Reilly, Allen, Cottin, Khan, Laird and Scamarcio deliver monotone performances with little sparkle.

Jude Hill is the one bright spot, though, intriguing as an intelligent child who acts way beyond his years.

He shows a range that could stand him in good stead should he wish to further develop his acting career.

© 20th Century Studios

With a running time just short of one and three quarter hours, 'A Haunting In Venice' drags and often feels longer than it actually is.

A decent showing at the box office holds out the prospect of Branagh making a fourth Poirot film and don't be surprised if he obliged.

However it really needs to be much more engaging than this.

('A Haunting In Venice' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on September 15, 2023) 

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