The Stream: Boring plot leads to lifeless twists.

The Big Screen: Venice looks like a great place to visit.

The Final Bill: Who cares whodunnit in this boring murder mystery?

– Trip Fontaine
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writers: Michael Green based on a novel by Agatha Christie
Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: PG-13 for some strong violence, disturbing images and thematic elements
Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
Production Companies: 20th Century Studios, Scott Free Productions, TSG Entertainment, Kinberg Genre, Mestiere Cinema
Platform: In theaters September 15, 2023
Notable Trailers: Saw X, Napoleon, Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Color Purple, The Marvels, The Creator

Guess who’s back, Streamers?  Hercule Poirot returns to solve another murder mystery in A Haunting in Venice.  This movie is the third in a series of Agatha Christie adaptations directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh as the world renown detective. We all love a good murder mystery, am I right?  A Haunting in Venice has a tinge of the supernatural just in time for Halloween season.  Here’s how it went.

A Haunting in Venice is a loose adaptation of a later novel by Christie, Hallowe’en Party.  In this movie, we find Poirot (Branagh) retired in Venice in 1947.  He is avoiding potential client who want him to solve their various mysteries.  However, when Poirot’s bodyguard allows his friend, Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a mystery novelist, in to see him, Poirot is confronted with a new mystery.  Ariadne wants Poirot to attend a séance at the haunted palazzo of Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) to expose a psychic, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), as a fraud.  Unable to resist, Poirot obliges Ariadne and attends the Halloween party and ensuing séance where things aren’t all as they seem. Bumps in the night and deductive reasoning ensue.

Branagh previously directed Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, which were mildly successful in bringing back these stodgy murder mysteries of Christie’s.  A Haunting in Venice is more of the same, but the setting does give a different energy to this movie.  Venice looks good.  From aerial shots and depictions of the canals, it all looks good.  Additionally, the production design and costumes are well-done enough such that we are firmly anchored in the time and place of post-war Venice. I will say that the film looks too dark.  It is difficult to tell at times what’s going on, and I do not think that it was intentionally done in order to add to the mystery.  It feels like a frustrating mistake in the cinematography.

Here’s my big issue with this movie: the mystery is not interesting.  The outcome of this whodunnit is pretty obvious early on.  Moreover, it is not explained well in the end.  The movie feels both perfunctory and bored with itself.  There are some interesting characters particularly Jamie Dornan’s Dr. Ferrier and his son Leopold played by Jude Hill.  On the other hand, Tina Fey is not good in this.  She’s out of place and takes you out of the movie every time she speaks, which is unfortunate.

Ultimately, A Haunting in Venice is a ho-hum effort at injecting horror/supernatural elements into the well-worn murder mystery genre.  If you liked the previous Branagh Agatha Christie adaptations, you’ll probably enjoy this, but it really not worth the time, money or trip to the theater. Everything is fine, but nothing is exciting or interesting enough for anything more than one popped kernel of popcorn.