Death on the Nile: Poorly Paced but Pretty

Pacing is one of the most important parts of a movie. It is something where, if it goes wrong, it can create the widest range of issues. A poorly paced movie in its most normal form can feel like it is substantially longer than it actually is, commonly referred to as “dragging.” Death on the Nile however, encounters the less common pitfall that comes from weighing one part of the movie over another. This creates an uneven distribution of the plot around the midpoint of the plot that makes the film borderline unwatchable.

A few quick clarifications for those reading who may not know. A movie has four major narrative points that, in a typical film that is not trying some avant garde approach to story, are hit to make sure that the story is progressing at a normal pace. There is the first act, which is defined as everything that leads up to the inciting incident (the moment in a film where the plot is kicked into gear). The second act is the meat of the story that occupies most of the middle of the plot. The third act is the climax and falling action, so everything that happens to resolve the plot of the movie followed. The fourth point is called the midpoint and is just the midway point of the movie. It is important from a narrative standpoint because it is the point at which the protagonist should be at his lowest point, so they gain the necessary resolve to move on and finish the plot.

These are not hard and fast rules that need to be followed every single time a movie is made, nor does simply following these plot points mean that the movie is guaranteed to be perfect, but it does lay out a general groundwork for how a movie should flow in an effort to not leave audiences confused or wanting more. Death on the Nile runs two hours and seven minutes so realistically it could have run for another about twenty minutes before audiences started to question the length. Couple that with a 10-minute secret origin story for a mustache that does not in any way relate to the plot, and the movie has about a half hour to play with to more fully flesh out the story and add a little breathing room to the actual solving of the murders.

The disconnect between the fact that the movie is fundamentally a whodunit and the fact that the first murder does not occur until an hour and twenty minutes into the movie is where the pacing issue comes in. The movie does not need to open with a murder but cramming all the actual murder solving into 40 minutes is a poor decision. It makes it hard to follow considering the movie then jumps from interview to interview with little room for the audience to properly weigh the evidence which is what should happen in this genre of movie. If a viewer cannot work alongside Poirot to try and solve the murders, the movie is failing on that front.

This is exacerbated by the fact that the majority of what happens in the lead up to the murders is not exactly interesting for anyone and can best be described as a recording of a vacation. Sure, it looks great and the set design is to be applauded, but there is not too much there to grab attention to the family drama of the characters. A lot of the family drama exposited in the first hour and twenty minutes can be better laid out during the solving of the title-promised murder.

On top of this, there is a sound mixing issue with this movie. There are multiple times throughout the movie where key backstory is revealed but the score overpowers the dialogue to a degree that it makes it hard to hear, if not impossible to hear. In a movie that is dialogue driven, this is a substantial barrier to entry.

This movie is entertaining from the aspect of watching a period piece done so well from a costuming and production design aspect and Kenneth Branagh is great as Hercule Poirot as well. That said, the amount of narrative issues in this movie outweigh them by enough of a margin that they are not worth the effort to see the movie in theaters. Fortunately, the movie is a 20th Century release so it will be on Hulu or HBOMax at some point after its theatrical run. On that medium, it is definitely worth a watch.

Final Rating: 7/10