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In Theaters Now
- 2023
- PG-13
- 1 h 43 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- 1 h 43 m
Summary In post-World War II Venice, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), now retired and living in self-imposed exile, reluctantly attends a seance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the former detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets. Based upon the novel Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie...
Directed By: Kenneth Branagh
Written By: Michael Green, Agatha Christie
In Theaters Now
- 2023
- PG-13
- 1 h 43 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- 1 h 43 m
A Haunting in Venice
63
6.7
Where to Watch
Summary In post-World War II Venice, Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), now retired and living in self-imposed exile, reluctantly attends a seance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the former detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets. Based upon the novel Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie...
Directed By: Kenneth Branagh
Written By: Michael Green, Agatha Christie
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 52 Critic Reviews
63
62% Positive
32 Reviews
32 Reviews
37% Mixed
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 52 Critic Reviews
63
62% Positive
32 Reviews
32 Reviews
37% Mixed
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
A Haunting in Venice is no downer. The script by Michael Green (“Logan,” “Blade Runner 2049”), who also wrote the first two Branagh Poirots, is at times ingenious, and he wrote a great part for Fey. As the mystery novelist Ariadne, a stand-in for Christie, she brings nice comic touches to a performance that threatens to steal the movie.
Third time’s the charm for a franchise that’s found its groove, ironically by changing the record.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 130 User Ratings
6.7
58% Positive
75 Ratings
75 Ratings
36% Mixed
47 Ratings
47 Ratings
6% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 130 User Ratings
6.7
58% Positive
75 Ratings
75 Ratings
36% Mixed
47 Ratings
47 Ratings
6% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
What an amazing movie, it's completely filled with the atmosphere the author wanted to convey. Kenneth discovered something new, personally for me, something mesmerizing. It was such a pleasure to watch the entire trilogy (first the Alps, then the pyramids and the Nile, and now Venice...). The visuals are outstanding, I'll say it again, the atmosphere in all the movies is just fantastic! This is what we love!
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A wonderful film in every respect. An interesting story in a great singular setting for a film that doesn't need to try too hard like too many movies these days that are filmed in a bunch of exotic locations or center on a lot of fancy special effects or car chases. A great story doesn't need all of that. This film has a plot that is interesting and captivating but not unnecessarily complex or overly long and in all respects it was very well done. Perfect.
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Amidst all this, Venice is also just a heck of a lot of fun, from its eerie Venetian mask costumes to the intriguing ways in which its central mysteries unfold. With heaps of atmosphere and a general spookiness, it's the perfect choice for a Halloween party.
Poirot’s latest adventure may engender some brief happiness in audiences, but I’m not sure it will leave them fully satisfied.
It’s enjoyable, if familiar.
Why Branagh and the screenwriter, Michael Green (he also did the two earlier Poirot adaptations), would want to bring actual, real-life horror into a mystery movie masquerading as a horror movie is a mystery beyond the powers of even Poirot to solve.
Even before the murderer is revealed, you’ll recognize the method in which the movie dispatches its victims: They, like us, were probably bored to death.
Unlike the other two, I was never bored with this movie. The fact that the murder is actually foreshadowed and can be figured out if you're paying enough attention is what makes it.
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(Mauro Lanari)
If Branagh had been interested in a mystery film with dark undertones, then those who consider both the whodunit and the horror atmosphere pitiful would be right. When an actress now specialized in the role of the villain is inserted in the cast, the solution to the case is already given from the start. Furthermore, photography and framings are banally gothic, expressionistic, romantically lugubrious and justified by the hallucinatory poisoning, while from "The Shining" we know how an uncanny sensation can also be generated by an antithetical form. But there is a subplot that becomes prevalent, a post-war period drama that abandons the area adjacent to Conan Doyle and Poe to move to the vicinity of Baudelaire and of a cursed fiercely anti-family-friendly "malheur", as if the director had concealed behind the masks of Christie and Poirot his other referent, Shakespeare with one of his epic tragedies between blood relatives.
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The 3rd installment of Brannagh's Poirot series downgrade itself in term of star cameos, and kept everything in one location (with the occasional enviromental shots of Venice). The move to a somewhat Supernatural thriller is a great idea, but short in its execution. Looking at its mundance box office result, this series seeomingly has ran out of steam.
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The one thing a good whodunnit should not do is put its audience to sleep. Unfortunately, this latest cinematic adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel fails miserably on this score. Director Kenneth Branagh’s third outing as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot is a protracted snooze that leaves viewers caring little about the characters and even less about the story in which they’re trapped. When the famed detective (Branagh) – now in retirement in Venice – is called upon by a friend and author of murder mysteries (Tina Fey) to help her verify or discredit the psychic powers of a medium (Michelle Yeoh) at a séance at an allegedly haunted Venetian palazzo, he’s drawn into yet another of his famous investigations. The problem here is that what should be an engaging story is interminably dull, one that, regrettably, prompts frequent checking of one’s watch. Moreover, virtually the entire film is shot with excessively dark camera work (so much for showing off the glories of Venice). And then there are the performances, which feature good turns by Yeoh and Jude Hill but a positively wooden portrayal by Branagh (compared to his previous depictions of the protagonist) and an absolutely dreadful performance by a woefully miscast Fey. To its credit, like its recent predecessors, the production values of this Christie offering are top shelf, but that’s about all this release has going for it, a far cry from the much better overall work found in “Murder on the Orient Express” (2017) and “Death on the Nile” (2023). Indeed, even fans of the famed mystery writer are likely to find “A Haunting in Venice” tiresome and tedious. Pack a lunch for this one.
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Production Company
20th Century Studios,
Kinberg Genre,
Scott Free Productions,
TSG Entertainment,
The Mark Gordon Company
Release Date Sep 15, 2023
Duration 1 h 43 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline Death is just the beginning
Awards
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards
• 2 Nominations
Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA)
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
