Death on the Nile: Gal Gadot leads all-star cast in Kenneth Branagh’s lacklustre second Poirot outing

If you ever wanted to see an origin story about a moustache, well, you're in luck. In Kenneth Branagh's new Agatha Christie thriller Death on the Nile, the actor-director's super sleuth Hercule Poirot gets a portentous prologue to explain those fantastic follicles, because nothing – not even facial hair – escapes the modern screenwriting curse of the elaborate backstory. As dashing chancer Simon Doyle, Hammer makes a swarthy, sexually charged entrance, slow-grinding co-star Gal Gadot's wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway in a swinging London nightclub in 1937 – much to the chagrin of his soon-to-be-ex, and Linnet's friend, the sultry socialite Jacqueline de Bellefort. Death on the Nile does gather some steam once one of the guests finally meets their end, and Poirot's hunt for the murderer steers the film into its classic whodunnit template. Death on the Nile won't be done any favours by the inevitable comparisons to Rian Johnson's hit Knives Out, a film that reinvigorated old detective mystery tropes via some knowing twists and loopy performances.