Hollywood has an affinity for revisiting Christie’s classics, and Kenneth Branagh is the latest director to have caught the remake bug. In 2017, he brought Murder on the Orient Express to the big screen, along with taking on the starring role of mustachioed sleuth Poirot, and now he again returns as both director and star of Death on the Nile.

Christie’s novels are nearly always packed with characters—all the easier to spread the suspicion around!—and have been able to attract star-laden casts throughout their many remakes. Branagh certainly followed this lead, packing Express with multiple A-listers, including Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, and Michelle Pfeiffer; and he continues that trend here, though dialing the star power down a bit, but still drawing Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Letitia Wright, Annette Bening, and Tom Bateman (who is the only other returning character from Express, in the role of Poirot’s friend, Bouc).

The film opens in 1914 with a bit of non-canonical backstory, showing Poirot developing skills of perception during a battle in World War I and also offering an explanation for his character’s iconic moustache. (Though the ‘stache has never been quite as magnificent as the one Branagh wears here.)

From there we cut to a London nightclub in 1937, where we meet Jackie Bellefort (Emma Mackey) passionately dancing with fiancée Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer). Shortly after, Doyle is introduced to heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Gadot), and it is pretty clear the two are smitten from the start. Cut to a hotel in Egypt, where we are celebrating the wedding of Doyle and Ridgeway, and we continue adding to the cast of characters and eventual suspects.

Jackie is not one to take this jilting lightly, and she has been obsessively following the newlyweds around trying to convince Doyle he still loves her. To escape Jackie, the couple charters a cruise ship for their honeymoon, and the wedding party boards the S.S. Karnak for a luxury cruise down the Nile where the champagne flows nearly as freely as the water. But as the title states, there is a death—more accurately a murder—aboard the Karnak, and it is up to Poirot to investigate and interrogate the passengers in his aggressive manner—“He accuses everyone of murder!” “It’s a problem, I admit.”—and determine the identity of the guilty party before the boat returns to port.

Shot on 65mm film and taken from a 4K digital intermediate, the film is beautiful to look at, with great attention given to the sets, decoration, and costuming. According to one of the extras, building the Karnak took nearly a full year, and it looks and feels it. Unfortunately, the film was all shot in studios in England—not Morocco, as originally planned—and the exterior scenes are sets, green screen, and CGI, and frequently look it, particularly when showing exteriors of buildings like the hotel in Egypt. But having much of the action take place aboard the Karnak helps anchor it somewhat in reality—even if all the waters and exteriors aren’t. The recreation of Abu Simbel does look impressive, though, and the resolution helps you appreciate the care that went into its construction.

The film opens in black & white, which can look great in HDR, with its clear extremes of contrast. While we don’t get truly inky blacks in this opening, we do get loads of contrast in the trenches and can nearly taste the grit of the war. The movie looks its best in exterior scenes where that huge film frame just soaks up the light and delivers beautiful images, and in closeups, where you can marvel at the detail and attention given to the costumes and numerous fabrics. Notice the texture in jackets, hats, shirts, and dresses, where you can clearly see the different details, the pinpoint stitching, weaves, weights, and sheens of each. The Karnak’s exterior, with its clean, tight lines and rows of slats covering doors and windows down the side of the ship, also looks appropriately sharp. 

The large film frame also provides great depth of field, making long shots clear and in focus. While they aren’t real, notice the pyramids Poirot studies or the crowds in the market and how everyone is sharp and clear. This also delivers terrific detail on actors’ faces as the camera comes in tight. 

The HDR grade is used to deliver some punchy, bright whites when needed, such as the stage and dance-floor lighting in the club or the beautiful golden hues of fire-lit rooms inside Abu Simbel or the warm red-orange-gold Nile sky and waters illuminated at sunrise/set. There’s a shot of the Karnak all lit up at night that also looks particularly stunning. The HDR grade also provides some nice pop to the bright white of Poirot’s suit against the Egyptian desert sands, but also has enough range to easily distinguish the white color differences and layers between shades of white in dinner jackets and shirts. 

Via Kaleidescape, Death on the Nile includes a Dolby TrueHD Atmos surround mix, and while it isn’t overly aggressive, it certainly serves the story. I found some of the dialogue—particularly in the nightclub with blues singer Salome (Sophie Okonedo)—to be a bit “chesty,” but otherwise it is pretty coherent. 

The audio mix is mostly used to serve up atmospheric sounds that place you in the scene, whether it’s the cacophony of the crowded markets in Egypt with voices and shouts around, the way voices echo within Abu Simbel, or the swirling winds of a sand storm. It is often the quieter moments in Nile where the mix proves its mettle subtly, such as when characters are standing outside talking, where you’ll notice the gentle sound of water lapping, insects buzzing, birds, or the soft sound of wind rustling, or aboard the Karnak where there is the background sounds of the bassy engine and paddle turning.

Don’t expect your subwoofer to give a lot of flex here, but there are a couple of moments where deep bass is called on and it delivers, such as an explosion during the opening flashback, when the Karnark drops its heavy anchor, or when a heavy stone breaks away and falls. 

At over two hours, Death on the Nile is a bit long and drags in parts. And even though the character list has been trimmed from Christie’s novel, keeping up with everyone and their relationships and backstory can still be a bit much. (As with all of her works, just assume that everyone is connected to the victim and has a motive, no matter how abstract.) But, for the sharp-eyed, the clues are there and this is a solvable mystery, even for those sans moustache. Nile’s true saving grace is its look and style, and it certainly makes for a beautiful evening up on a luxury display. 

Probably the most experienced writer on custom installation in the industry, John Sciacca is co-owner of Custom Theater & Audio in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, & is known for his writing for such publications as Residential Systems and Sound & Vision. Follow him on Twitter at @SciaccaTweets and at johnsciacca.com.