Directed by Kenneth Branagh (Belfast; Artemis Fowl; Murder on the Orient Express; Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit; As You Like It; Much Ado About Nothing; Frankenstein) and starring Kenneth Brannagh (Murder on the Orient Express; Dunkirk; My Week with Marilyn; The Boat that Rocked; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; Rabbit-Proof Fence; The Theory of Flight; Wallander (TV Series)), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice; Keeping Up with the Joneses; Fast & Furious 7; Knight and Day), Arnie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name; The Social Network; The Lone Ranger; Hotel Mumbai; J. Edgar; The Man from U.N.C.L.E.); Tom Bateman (Snatched; Cold Pursuit; Murder on the Orient Express; Behind Her Eyes (TV Mini Series); The Tunnel (TV Series)), Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right; American Beauty; Being Julia; Captain Marvel; The Kids are All Right), Emma Mackey (The Winter Lake; Eiffel; Sex Education (TV Series)), Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie; Muppet Treasure Island; Spice World; Absolutely Fabulous (TV Series); Blandings (TV Series); French and Saunders (TV Series); The Stranger (TV Mini Series)) and Dawn French (Coraline; Milk; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Vicar of Dibley (TV Series); French and Saunders (TV Series); The Wrong Mans (TV Series)).

Crime drama; 127 mins; 12+

A wonderful remake of the classic 1978 film of the same name by John Guillermin and starring Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, Simon MacCorkindale, Bette Davis, David Niven, Jane Birkin, Angela Lansbury, Maggie Smith and Peter Ustinov based on the classic Agatha Christie novel, and with almost as stellar a cast the second time round, but with better effects...

This time out, before the backstory to set the stage of what is about to unfold in Egypt, the audience is treated to an "origins" few minutes of screentime in which we see Poirot in the front-line trenches of WWI and references to his plans to return to life as a farmer after the war. However, as we all know, that was not to be as his brilliant mind led to a highly successful (and celebrated) career as a detective.

The film then fasts-forward a few years to 1937 and to London where we see Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Brannagh), rather surprisingly, in a rather seedy blues club where we are introduced to newly-engaged couple Emma Mackey (Jacqueline de Bellefort) and the dashing Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer). Heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot), a friend of Emmas's, then makes an entrance and the two women get chatting, with Emma asking if she could give her penniless fiancé a job on her estate, which she does.

Another fast-forward, but this time not that far into the future, we see Linnet - in the first twist to be revealed - as Mrs Simon Doyle on their honeymoon in Egypt, first in a splendid hotel on the banks of the River Nile, and then on a cruise along the river. While in the hotel, jilted Emma shows up and creates a scene, so Simon and Linnet decide to get away from their stalker on the steamship Karnak, along with various other cosmopolitan characters whom they met at the hotel, including Bouc (Tom Bateman) and his mother Euphemia Bouc (Annette Bening), and also wealthy socialist Marie Van Schuyler (Jennifer Saunders) and her travelling companion Bowers (Dawn French) - the same character names as in the 1978 film but sometimes different relationships and careers. Oh, and Poirot is there too. And there is a murder (in fact, there are more than one) and Poirot does investigate, with the audience eventually being treated to the unravelling of a complex plot.

Christie's whodunnit has received a tremendous makeover which interestingly doesn't take anything away from John Guillermin's original gem - the two can exist quite comfortably side-by-side on the same video library shelf. Brannagh's mastery (behind the camera, that is) lies in presenting the back stories with elements of intrigue and developing the characters on screen which is like feeding the audience just enough to have them hooked and wanting more; in front of the camera, audiences have accepted Brannagh as Poirot even if he does portray different attributes, personality traits and characteristics than Peter Ustinov and David Suchet (in the tv series).

The cinematography is magnificent, particularly the aerial shots of London, Cairo and the rivers, as well as the Sahara desert, the majestic Giza pyramids, the Sphinx and Luxor. And the costumes and make-up (Poirot's battle scare, for example) are exemplary, all together combining for a wonderful cinematic experience which pays homage to Agatha Christie's classic novel by playing out the twists and turns, but does not focus on art deco architecture or various personality traits presented in the Poirot tv series.

Currently screening at Kinepolis in Luxembourg.