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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\u201cA Haunting in Venice\u201d is director\/star Kenneth Branagh\u2019s third go-around as Agatha Christie-penned detective Hercule Poirot. The other two were 2017\u2019s \u201cMurder on the Orient Express\u201d and 2022\u2019s \u201cDeath on the Nile.\u201d \u201cA Haunting in Venice\u201d comes barely a year and a half after the latter film, though the turnaround is less impressive when one remembers that trailers for \u201cDeath on the Nile\u201d were playing a year and a half before that film opened, with the release suffering numerous delays. Those delays may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because unlike the sequels I\u2019ve reviewed the last two weeks, Branagh\u2019s Poirot is relatively fresh in my mind, and I\u2019m more eager to step back into his world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, it\u2019s Poirot himself that is uneager to step back into the world of mystery and danger. Ten years have passed since the events of \u201cDeath on the Nile,\u201d and Poirot is retired, spending his days blowing off prospective clients with the help of his bodyguard Vitale (Riccardo Scamarcio) and only enjoying Venice for its pastries. For those keeping score, this version of Italy is slightly more appealing than the crime-ridden take of \u201cEqualizer 3,\u201d but far less than the glorified travel brochure that was \u201cBook Club: The Next Chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poirot\u2019s determination to not challenge himself is interrupted by Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey, a very of-her-era actress that feels out of place in this 1947-set movie), a mystery novelist from America. She\u2019s about to do a book on psychic Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), who has thus far evaded exposure as a fraud. Oliver wants Poirot to either figure Reynolds out or decide she\u2019s the real deal so the project can continue. Poirot, skeptic that he is of anything beyond this world, agrees to what he\u2019s sure will be a humiliating debunking for Reynolds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That night, Halloween Night, Reynolds holds a s\u00e9ance at the home of retired opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). Rowena\u2019s daughter Alicia was found drowned in a canal some time ago, and she thinks Reynolds can help her find closure. Poirot, Oliver, and Vitale attend the s\u00e9ance, as well as Rowena\u2019s housekeeper Olga (Camille Cottin), doctor Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) and his creepily mature son Leopold (Jude Hill), Reynolds\u2019 assistants Desdemona (Emma Laird) and Nicholas (Ali Khan), and in case things weren\u2019t tense enough, Alicia\u2019s ex-fianc\u00e9 Maxime (Kyle Allen). During the s\u00e9ance, Reynolds, allegedly channeling Alicia, claims that she was murdered. A less ambiguous murder soon follows, and Poirot is on the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like all Poirot mysteries, the night is full of twists and turns, with secret after secret coming to light and everybody having a chance to play the prime suspect. Unique to this one is the possibility of something supernatural going on. Poirot can swear that there\u2019s a little girl in the mansion that nobody else can see or hear. There has to be a logical\/scientific explanation\u2026 unless there isn\u2019t?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once \u201cA Haunting in Venice\u201d gets going, the excitement is consistent until the mystery is solved. All that\u2019s left for the viewer at that point is to deduce how smart they were at figuring things out. Were they right or wrong? And if they were wrong, was it because they missed something, or did the movie keep an important clue hidden until the last minute? Were the clues that were there too easy or too hard? Could only a world-class detective like Poirot have solved this mystery? For me, I thought it was a mix of all of these, which gives me mixed feelings on the movie overall. But I won\u2019t deny that the experience is a fun ride regardless of how you feel about the ending, or the mystery in retrospect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grade: B-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA Haunting in Venice\u201d is rated PG-13 for some strong violence, disturbing images and thematic elements. Its running time is 103 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bob Garver \u201cA Haunting in Venice\u201d is director\/star Kenneth Branagh\u2019s third go-around as Agatha Christie-penned detective Hercule Poirot. The other two were 2017\u2019s \u201cMurder on the Orient Express\u201d… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":58744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[2550],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58745,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58743\/revisions\/58745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}