Much of Poirot's mood can be attributed to the case he wraps up as the film starts. Here he finishes confronting a man for a crime, only to have the suspect kill himself, either as a way to escape punishment or in grief over the crime. Either way, this puts the Belgian detective in a sour mood for the rest of the picture.
Finding himself in a rush to get back home, Poirot makes his way onto the famed Orient Express and into a train car packed with a varied assortment of individuals, the least of whom is the eventual murder victim on the fateful train, Samuel Ratchett (Toby Jones, Captain America, Detectorists, The Witness for the Prosecution). It is clear early on that Ratchett, a wealthy American businessman, is paranoid and when he attempts to hire Poirot as a bodyguard, Hercule's mood takes an even steeper dive. When the train crashes into a snow drift and Ratchett's body is discovered, Poirot reluctantly begins an investigation into the man's death.
Poirot finds himself surrounded by a rather eclectic group of characters. For one, there is Count Andrenyi (Stanley Weber, Outlander) and his wife, the Countess (Elena Satine, The Gifted), as well as Princess Dragomiroff (Eileen Atkins, Doc Martin, The Queen) and her assistant (Susanne Lothar). The train car also contains a governess (Jessica Chastain, The Martian, Zero Dark Thirty, The Help), a Colonel (David Morrissey, The Walking Dead), an American woman (Barbara Hershey, Black Swan), a missionary (Marie-Josee Croze) and a car salesman (Joseph Mawle, Game of Thrones). Also among the possible suspects are Ratchett's own employees, his secretary, Hector MacQueen (Brian J. Smith, Stargate Universe: SGU, Sense8), and his valet (Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey).
When Poirot discovers Ratchett's true identity, he starts to piece together other facts about the victim. As he digs deeper into the investigation, he also starts to learn some startling truths about his fellow passengers, but even when Poirot discovers what really happened to Ratchett, he still has to deal with the fact that the train is stuck and it will be some time before authorities arrive and the train can proceed.
This particular interpretation of Murder on the Orient Express is darker than previous film versions of the story, and it also delves a lot more into Poirot's own Catholic faith, even more than the original story itself. That being said, it still feels like the same version of Poirot that Suchet has molded over the years, this mystery just happens to come at the tail end of a rather dramatic event and Poirot's attitude is greatly affected by this event.
Murder on the Orient Express doesn't come with any special features. Unfortunately, this means that the featurette that accompanied the episode's original release where Suchet talks about the history of the Orient Express and rides along the historic tracks is also missing.
It's pretty clear that this particular release is to take advantage of the hype train (pun intended) of the upcoming Kenneth Branagh film, and for any Poirot, Agatha Christie, or David Suchet fan that doesn't already own this movie, then this one-off release is a good way to pick up this particular interpretation of Christie's classic masterpiece.
