Mystery – DReager1.com (2024)

Odd Taxi is one of those shows that I didn’t really know anything about but I remember when it was first announced at some kind of awards show. The teaser was so bad that every reactor I knew was making fun of it. The comments were pretty fun but it seems like a lot of people enjoyed it after the show actually released. Either that or the creators got mad because a lot of the initial reactions were taken down without a trace. Could be that the reactors were covering their tracks though. It’s a pretty unique show that has a fun mystery. I thought it was good, it may not reach the status of very good as I don’t think there is a ton of replay value here but it handles the alternate realistic universe filled with animals concept way better than Beastars ever could.

The show generally follows a walrus named Hiroshi who drives a taxi around town. He picks up various people across the city and lives a generally calm life. He doesn’t get into trouble or take risks and that’s the way that he likes it. Unfortunately, that changes one day when he becomes aware of a missing persons case. A girl has gone missing and unfortunately he is a primary suspect because there are signs pointing to his having driven her right before she vanished. He doesn’t remember….but this is one of those shows where even the main character is a suspect. So we have to determine whether Hiroshi is guilty or not. In the meantime this has gotten the attention of the cops, the yakuza, and even the papparazi. Hiroshi’s quiet life is completely over.

While the mystery is the central focus of the show, this is the kind of title where a lot of plots are balanced at the same time. You can sometimes go whole episodes without the missing persons case being the main focus. For example you’ve also got a failing comedian duo, a girl that Hiroshi has fallen in love with, inter gang battles, one guy’s addiction to mobile games, etc. Another way to look at this could be that the show is more about the city and everyone in it as opposed to just focusing on Hiroshi’s struggles.

Now, the soundtrack isn’t really doing the series any favors. It has to succeed in spite of the songs because they are quite uninspired. The opening is hands down one of the worst that I’ve heard in a while. It might seriously be bottom 5 but that’s a bold statement with how many shows I’ve seen. So for now I’ll just say that it is easily one of the weaker ones and you will want to skip it after seeing it once. Then the ending also doesn’t really work either but at least it has some life to it. The themes within the show aren’t bad but it’s just not really my kind of music. It’s a little too subdued the whole time which is likely the intent based on the style of the show but I wanted something with a little more pop.

The animation is also below average. It’s going for a stylized kind of look but for me that just didn’t work as well as the traditional visuals. Give me something with more color and impact any day. Technical elements usually exist to enhance a show to the next level as opposed to holding it back so that does put this one at a bit of a disadvantage. The show is still good but I dare say this contributed to the show staying there instead of becoming very good.

In a way the story arcs revolve around the characters so I’ll be breaking the story down that way as opposed to the traditional story arcs method. So first lets talk about Kabasawa since he’s one of the more annoying characters. Basically he wants to go viral online and become really famous. So the guy is always taking a lot of pictures and getting himself into trouble with the mafia. It takes him a long while to really get the point and in a way he is supposed to represent the irresponsible streamers that you see everywhere. So the show did a good job of really adapting that kind of person but it also means that naturally this character would not be even remotely likable. Even by the end I didn’t like him and so this wasn’t quite my favorite plot of the bunch.

For a more intense plot, we had the constant fighting between Dobu and Yano. They’re both trying to show off for their boss but this does result in some direct fighting at times. We get to see Dobu a lot more often than Yano and he is a tough gangster. The guy can fight well when he’s cornered and always has a plan. He feels a little less evil than Yano in part because of all the screentime so he gets to mellow out a bit. He makes for a good antagonist who really gives Hiroshi and the others a run for their money. He works best as a full on villain and was always entertaining. I never doubted that he would shoot Hiroshi if the need were to arise.

That said, I liked his rival Yano even more. The way he talks with rhythm and thymes the whole time was pretty cool. He actually had a pretty good theme music which would show up and was the best part of the ost. Yano debuts much later than Dobu but still gets a really good amount of screen-time. I tend to like it when villains are going at each other and this provided another opportunity for that. So all good things here and Yano’s scenes were always really hype.

Then we have the Daimon brothers. One of them is a really corrupt cop who is rather open about this while the other one is really timid and super naive. Good Daimon wants to be a good police officer who opposes evil and fights for justice at all times. His plot ties into the main one the most as this is his big chance but if it means going against his brother then it’ll be tough. You’re eagerly waiting for him to summon his bravery and start doing good but it does take a while. So he gets a good finish here but ultimately I still wouldn’t list him as one of my favorite characters or anything because it took a really long time.

As for bad Daimon, he was usually a lot more entertaining. It’s the way he’s so smug about everything, it’s fun to see him just revel in that as he makes things tough on Hiroshi. This guy isn’t afraid to be petty and so he helps the villains out quite a lot. I don’t feel like he ever got a great reason for helping the villains out but that’s actually a good thing. Sometimes people will just go corrupt easily for some money and influence. It doesn’t all have to tie into some grand sob story that explains everything.

Then we have Hiroshi’s doctor Goriki and his assistant Miho. Miho is a nice enough lady that Hiroshi falls for right away but despite that she has her dark secrets like being a bit of a thief. It’s hard for Hiroshi to get involved here since he isn’t the type to meddle and he’s no sure exactly what’s going on. Ultimately I would say that Miho looks rather bad here. She’s one of those characters who doesn’t have much problem with manipulating someone but then this whole thing started because someone manipulated her so it’s really a whole cycle. Her excuses for being manipulated were pretty bad and ultimately I didn’t think she was a great character.
I liked Goriki a lot though. He could have taken a more proactive approach rather than letting Miho do whatever she wanted though. He seemed to think the optimal thing was to take the loss and move on which is the way to go if you absolutely can’t handle confrontations but I would say overall it isn’t the right thing to do. Sometimes confrontations are inevitable or you will be walked on by everyone else. Goriki is also busy worrying about Hiroshi the whole time but the main character can be rather stubborn about things so this can be difficult.

Then you have Hiroshi’s friend Kakihana who is the most desperate character in the series. He desperately wants a girlfriend even if it means lying on dating apps and borrowing money from shady sources. He will do whatever it takes and gets into trouble on many occasions. It’s always hard to feel bad for him as a result and I don’t feel like he ever made the jump to being a good character. He just holds Hiroshi back and gets the lead into dangerous situations. Kakihana needs to be less desperate and be happy with what he already has.

Then you have the singing plot which is also really important in the show. Yamamoto is the manager of a band of 3 cats who are really popular now. The main singer is Rui while her two backup singers always have to wear masks. Yamamoto has them trying to do everything to hustle up more tickets but the guy is rather shady. He’s one of many people who asks Hiroshi for his dash-cam and seems to know more than he is letting on about the missing girl. Show biz is definitely a dark place as always but he does really well in the role of manager. At the very least, even if it means breaking 1000 laws you can bet that he will work to make the group as popular as possible.

On the surface Rui seems like a really nice person but of course you know that this doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Putting on an act is what the trio do for a living after all, but she’s a fun character to have around. In general I liked all of the singers, they all had an edge to them and were quite competitive which makes sense. You don’t get to this high level by being passive after all. In a way Shiho might be the toughest of the group. She does some illegal stuff in order to get rich which involves being bait so that others can get beat up. It’s definitely not something you would be expecting a celebrity to do.

Also even if she doesn’t love the gig, she’s not exactly running away either so I do give her a lot of responsibility here. Ultimately she wants to live a really wealthy life and seems ready to go with any guy who can give her that luxurious life. Definitely not a great reason to start a relationship though, materialistic end goals like that don’t feel like they will lead to a happy outcome. Finally you have Yuki who is the newest member of the group and fighting hard to make sure that she ends up doing well here. She’s got a lot of spirit which I like and definitely has the work ethic to succeed. Her role is quite sizable and of the 3 she is easily the most likable one.

Then we have the comedy duo Shibagaki and baba whose plot has the least to do with the main one but it ultimately does connect. All of the plots converge at some point or another after all. Basically these guys have been a duo for a long time but Baba has gotten more and more distracted as he starts to pursue other goals while Shibagaki still wants to become the best duo in Japan. The fact is that they continue to lose in early rounds of the comedian championship in every year. So Baba thinks they are just on the way down here. I don’t think they worked well as a duo from the start though, they just didn’t have the banter at the ready.

I also don’t think you can possibly succeed if either member of the duo already has their eyes set on another goal. I put most of the blame here on Baba, I think he should either just have gone and quit from the jump or focused entirely for the final competition. His whole one foot in and one foot out made things really tough on the duo. As for Shibageki, he should have looked into a new partner. It seems like he wasn’t doing particularly well in the comedy circuit either but then he needs to work from the ground up and needs a partner who is ready to start from scratch to. Both of these guys were just too stubborn. It was always fun hearing them on the radio though.

We’d have whole segments where Hiroshi is just driving and listening to these guys. It felt a little like a loading screen and it worked well for the slice of life effect. The show did that well in general, a lot was always going on here but at the same time there were a lot of moments for peace like this. A good portion of the show takes place at night since that is Hiroshi’s normal route and so the vibes are rather solid there.

Then you have Tanaka who is the most deranged character in the series. Initially he just starts out as some kid who is super addicted to mobile games but as the show goes on he gets more and more detached from reality. The guy even grabs a gun and starts threatening people. He’s definitely got strong crazy vibes going at all times. While I have no real sympathy for the guy and just think that he’s nuts, the plot is one of the most engaging in the show. Partially because you know he does have a real chance of actually murdering someone since the show’s atmosphere lends itself well to that. It’s also fun when he actually does have a run in with the Yakuza. He’s definitely a very good wild card who keeps all of the characters guessing.

The most normal character in the show has to be Imai. He’s a super big fan of the idol group and so he buys all of their merchandise and attends the concerts that he can. He doesn’t have much money at all but he really wants to support them. Well, one day he win a big lottery so he can finally have a bunch of money but the Yakuza in town might have something to say about this. This guy isn’t the smartest character in the group which gets him into trouble though. You definitely want to be sure that nobody knows you won the lottery but unfortunately he doesn’t think that far ahead. Imai’s more on the naive side so he makes a whole lot of mistakes here. He was okay but I wish he was a bit tougher.

Now we’ve got Hiroshi’s plot but with the added context of all the other plots which keep involving him since he drives them all around. Hiroshi’s not much of a social guy and so he tries to avoid the spotlight but it’s pretty much impossible given his position. I appreciate the effort but yeah he’s definitely a little in over his head on this one. I thought he made for a good main character with how old and jaded he is though. He doesn’t understand any of the newer trends that the younger characters are talking about and he doesn’t want to understand them. Part of him wants to get out there and start dating while another part of him doesn’t want to risk it.

Then with the whole murder case, Hiroshi is rather cryptic. Does he really not remember what happened or is he hiding something? Throughout the show he talks to someone in his closet which is rather suspicious. Well, either way I can say that the resolutions to the plots are definitely interesting. Hiroshi also starts to show some guts later on like during a few tense chase scenes and when he shows up to rescue Kakihana. He may not always be the bravest character but he is someone that you can count on.

The season also ends with a fairly big cliffhanger depending on how you look at it. You can think of it as more of a “bad end” as opposed to a cliffhanger though and assume that things went the villain’s way. I could definitely picture that. On the other hand you can assume that at some point we will get a season 2 that wraps things up. There is certainly enough material for one but either way that was an explosive way to end things and I was not expecting that so it worked out pretty well.

There are a lot of revelations in general near the end. The biggest twist was also pretty well foreshadowed since in hindsight you can connect a few of the dots that way. They are hidden well enough where I wouldn’t expect just about anyone to guess it right away but it doesn’t feel unfair either since the seeds were there. The twist makes you wonder a bit on how a season 2 would go. It would definitely be interesting to see. In a way I hope it would keep things the way they look after the twist because it makes the most sense but I would totally understand it if the show did not want to do that.

I think one of the cleverest things the show did was introducing the girl’s disappearance right away. It’s treated like a murder the whole time but that’s not confirmed. Still, what it does is give the series a fairly serious vibe right away. This is a show with gangs running around and a lot of tension so you want to make sure that the audience knows bad things can happen to the characters. If there was no danger then the show would not have as much intensity as it does now. Even by the end they don’t cop out on the whole thing. It’s a legitimate plot that keeps on going and isn’t just there for shock value.

In general the story is more focused on a strong plot than shock value which is why I put it on a much higher level than something like Beastars. There can be some violence but it isn’t all that excessive and the show isn’t generally dealing with any super dark themes. It’s just a solid mystery with a lot of things going on. The slow pacing can sometimes approach the point of being a little boring every now and again but you do get sucked in when the mystery is a big focus again. The story itself was strong enough to carry the rest of the show.

Overall, Odd Taxi is a fun show. There is a lot of mystery involved with the plot and the characters can be interesting. The show does have a very low key vibe to it although I wish the animation/soundtrack was better. It’s a show that can keep you engaged on the first run but I don’t think it would hold up well on the rewatch. The pacing could stand to be a little faster since some parts can be a bit more dull especially if you don’t care about the character. Kakihana in particular was just annoying the whole time. There aren’t a ton of mystery anime out there compared to other genre though so if you’re in the mood for a title like that then I would recommend this show. The Taxi is definitely a fun vehicle to revolve the show around.

Overall 6/10

It’s time for an old school mystery thriller. This one definitely has a lot of characters running around which helps to enhance the mystery angle and I would say that it ends up working out really well. There are enough characters here where you can really start making your own guesses on what happened and who the true culprit is. There are a solid number of twists and turns here so it will be tough to really guess it all correctly but trying to come close is definitely the main objective here.

So the movie starts with a lady getting murdered. She was actually on the phone with someone but completely panicked and so while she was being murdered she didn’t yell out the person’s name, description, or anything like that. In fact she dropped the phone so only a scream was heard which didn’t seem to bother the other person on the line nearly as much as you would have expected it to. We then get to the main house where there is a big party for Victor ongoing. Just about everyone is here and it should be all good except a mysterious guy shows up. His name is Steven and he claims to be the husband of Matilda, the lady who died out at sea.

Nobody has been aware of her being married before and as it happens, she was quite rich. So naturally her family were expecting to get everything and now this guy has shown up? Is he just here for the money and is this some kind of a scam? They’ll need to figure it out quickly and does this have anything to do with the murder of the other lady? More and more characters enter the plot as the film goes on and the main thing I would say is that this is one of those films where you really can’t rust anyone. They’ve all got an angle that they are working on.

Each character appears to have some kind of motive and most of them just don’t get along at all. You have Althea who stole Matilda’s boyfriend from her right before they were to be married so there would definitely still be some resentment there. Unfortunately he fell off quickly so now Althea isn’t even happy. Steven’s motivations are obvious of course, if he is faking the marriage then he is here for money and if not, then he may be out for some revenge. He appears to be digging into the recent “suicide” as well which raises more questions. I should mention now that unfortunately the opening murder was ruled a suicide since there was no evidence of a struggle or anything. It’s a shame because the whole movie wouldn’t have happened in the same way if the victim had just yelled anything specific before getting bumped off.

Meanwhile Victor is naturally a suspect for generally being shady and also not reacting much to any of the news. He reads a lot of murder mysteries and different thrillers over the radio so he has experience in these kinds of scenarios. The film tends to open up more questions as it goes on as well when the various characters begin interacting with each other. There are so many secret conversations, layered threats, blackmail, etc. Everything is happening here. That is where the film shines though. The pacing is very fast and they manage to squeeze in many different plots before the film is over.

Naturally the writing is also really good although that should come as no surprise. These old films always tend to have a great script and was crafted with a lot of care. Most of the characters are written to be rather unlikable but it is done in a careful way where they aren’t obnoxious or anything like that. You are rooting for things not to go tooo well for them but they’re not actively hurting the film in the process. For example Althea’s husband spends the whole film being really drunk so he’s annoying and someone to root against but the film doesn’t overplay its hand by having him show up dozens and dozens of times over to beat you over the head with how annoying he is. You get the basis of his character right away. Likewise you see how Althea is always chasing different men and can’t really be trusted.

The flaws that the characters have are rather obvious without being overbearing and that’s absolutely the right away to do it. So in short, the film didn’t really have any negatives for me. Yeah I still think it’s a real stretch how in the first murder the girl didn’t do anything even while she was already on the phone. That whole thing felt more than a little sloppy to me and the film should have written the scene in a different way. Just don’t have her be on the phone you know? I feel like in part it was there to be a red herring as well and the problem is that it’s a little too good as a red herring to the point where it almost becomes a plot hole of sorts. Plot hole is too strong since you can explain it away but all I’m saying is that the first scene doesn’t work all that well despite the rest of the film being really strong.

Also there’s a major plot point/whole storyline that I didn’t mention because the actual plot would be a spoiler in itself. All I’ll say there is that you always have to trust your own recollection or lack thereof rather than someone else’s story. Even if it might work out sometimes, you see so many characters being gaslit because they didn’t trust their own instincts. That is always a problem. Just trust in your instincts and generally everything will work out.

Overall, This is the kind of film where I try not to give too much away because all of the twists and turns as a primary factor in how much you enjoy the film. It’s why a repeat viewing will never hit quite the same way as the initial watch. Still, it is done well enough where you would still have a good time either way. I definitely recommend watching this movie and extra credit to you if you guess who the main culprit is.

Overall 7/10

This is one of those films where I have to say that the title is really clever. Right out of the gate when the plot starts you gotta let out a quick chuckle there. It works really well. As for the film itself, I’d say it’s solid. In some ways it’s the kind of film that I do think could have been executed a bit better and has been, but it’s a fun story all the way. It’s filled with some thrills and chills as the mystery intensifies but my main problem is that you aren’t quite as invested in the missing character as you could be.

The film starts with Vicky and her brother Johnny visiting Paris. Vicky is super psyched to be here and wants to try out all of the activities and visit different places. Johnny is bored and irritated the whole time but she talks him into it. He’s more concerned about his work to be honest and he’s not feeling too well. They have a good time and retire for the night but the next day Johnny is gone. In fact his whole room appears to have disappeared and everybody says that he doesn’t even exit. Vicky has walked into some kind of conspiracy but is she ready to handle it?

So I would say that Vicky is the weakest part of the film. I get not being experienced in this kind of situation of course but she has a tendency to faint and panic at every step. The villains outmaneuver her at all points and she doesn’t really stick up for herself. I get not just punching everyone out since this isn’t a 2020s film but I think she could be a little more forceful about the whole thing. Her brother has been vanished after all which means he is likely murdered or about to be. You have to take drastic steps at this point.

She’s a little overly emotional as well. So I’m quite critical of her the whole time. She is going through a rather stressful situation of course so I cut her some slack but yeah it’s a good thing that she gets help from George later. Now this guy does fairly well for himself and is able to take that aggressive position I was hoping for. He’s going on secret missions like he is James Bond and doesn’t take no for an answer. His natural confidence and smooth behavior helps a lot here.

The only dent I would put against him is it wasn’t really necessary to kiss Vicky in the hotel room as a cover. I’d say he took advantage of the situation there and this film didn’t actually need any kind of romance. Lets focus on the suspense and adventure instead! He’s still the MVP of the film though since everyone else was generally unhelpful. I’d also say that the villains got really lucky here that nobody was paying attention and Johnny didn’t talk to many people. Otherwise it would be incredibly difficult to hide such a conspiracy.

It’s not as bad as a film where this happens on a plane since that was just absurd but this goes to similar extremes. I don’t see how so much work was done without anyone noticing especially in a place as busy as Paris. I guess the hotel could be a little dead at times but ehhhh it stretched my disbelief a bit. This kind of plot does usually revolve around a little disbelief of course though and it has less than others so it wasn’t too bad.

Like I said earlier though, one of the only weaknesses here is that you don’t really care about Johnny much. The ending of the film should be really sad and yet you barely care. I feel like the film is more about the thrill of the mystery and finding out what happened whereas in other films you would be equally invested in the final fate of the one who vanished. I’m cool with this though because the chase is most of the film. Trying to connect the dots and see what happened. I also appreciate that Vicky didn’t let herself be gaslit into thinking that he didn’t come along or that he left early though. Now that would have been absolutely crazy.

There aren’t many supporting characters who get involved here. One of them certainly meets a rather explosive end which come to think of it, is also another bit of a stretch. It’s just such a big move. I guess it’s realistic in terms of a villain would do this of course but then the ending should be harsher. You have the main cop saying he understands why the villains did this and all that in a rather somber tone. Someone should remind him that these villains were ruthlessly murdering people. I guess it’s possible that he hasn’t connected the dots yet but yeah the ending should have been tougher there. If the film was longer then I would have liked for it to lean into the conspiracy angle a bit more.

The film is a bit trapped between the movie being rather ambitious but also staying small scale. Like this isn’t a huge gangster battle or some kind of illuminati opponent but at the same time the villains are able to make lots of moves in a short amount of time and do seem to think of everything. They have people tailing Vicky for a while and are also able to bump off people but this ends up not being super widespread. I think it would have been a good idea for the film to have been a little more ambitious.

At the end of the day the writing is good though and that is the foundation of a solid movie. I would have liked a tougher main character but that’s still not going to take away from the film being a solid watch. Particularly considering how old the movie is, I would say that it did quite a lot. I was satisfied here. It may not be as scary as it may have initially appeared but it keeps your attention.

Overall, This is a pretty fun film. It’s also a rather short one so it ends right away. This does allow for some really fast pacing which is always nice and it’s probably for the best. A good mystery is limited only by the writer’s imagination so of course this could be stretched to 3 hours but I thought the length fit the movie rather well. There’s only so much you could do with this film before it would start to go in circles or something without more characters and locations. At the end of the day it is a movie that has aged well so I would recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

You know I’m always talking about how it’s tough to have a really solid film where all of the characters are pretty bad right? Well, this is a good example of how you can still make that work. Noir is probably the best genre for this as you basically have a bunch of crooks running around and you have to decide who you want to pull through in the end. The writing is still solid and the plot is engaging so in the end this one definitely gets a thumbs up either way.

All right so the film starts off by showing us how busy Jeff is. He’s a really highly regarded doctor who has always done a great job for his patients and he is getting ready to leave the hospital and start his own practice. He has also been dating one of the nurses, Julie so this works well since there won’t be any workplace drama. Right before he can leave his shift, he has to attend to one last patient. A lady named Margo tried to commit suicide but ultimately it didn’t work out for her. She runs off but leaves Jeff a note with her address and name so he heads over. She basically admits that she needs him so Jeff quickly betrays his girlfriend and hooks up with her. One thing leads to another and he seemingly murders Margo’s husband. Now the two of them are on the run and the long arm of the law is getting closer and closer.

I mentioned how the characters weren’t very likable and it’s time to explain why. First up for Jeff this should be self explanatory. He had a good thing going with Julie and all it took was another lady to bay her eyes at him? Yeah you could use all kind of excuses like he thought she would try committing suicide again if he ran off or that there was no emotion in the cheating and he was just doing it to be a good guy. Unfortunately none of those arguments hold any weight and the film never really addresses this which is unfortunate. That’s a big element in why I think the ending to this film was really weak. It just takes away a big part of the impact there.

Back to Jeff though, the guy also gets super drunk which impairs him for the rest of the film. It also means that he’s not sure exactly if he did murder Margo’s husband or not. As the audience you know what happened from the jump and it’s annoying to see him getting gaslit the whole time. He’s not really back to 100% until the very end of the film and by then it’s very late in the game. Jeff really should have handled everything so much better.

Then we have Margo’s husband Frederick who handled things abysmally. First off, he takes forever to get to the point. He seems to enjoy messing with Jeff as he builds up the suspense but of course this gives Margo a lot of time to make her own move. All Frederick needed to do was say one or two sentences to get all of the plot twists out there but he couldn’t even muster that. Ultimately this would be his undoing and so I couldn’t take this guy seriously. I did think he was an entertaining character though. The guy has a very smug air about him which I can really appreciate.

Next up is Margo and of course she is the one who is already married but trying to go after Jeff so that’s pretty bad right out of the gate. No way you can spin her as a hero in this one. She continues to dig Jeff deeper and deeper into trouble and the whole time you wonder if she actually likes him or if she’s going to bump him off. If that’s what she plans to do then it’s going to be incredibly easy for her to pull it off. You can tell that Jeff would never see it coming.

Finally there is Julie who isn’t bad but is definitely way too forgiving. She misses out on just about the whole film and after that she doesn’t get a chance to have any kind of reaction to what happened. She should have been able to put two and two together so the ending shouldn’t be too bright for Jeff. Perhaps you can say that right after the film ends she really takes it to Jeff but in the end we don’t really get to know.

So the characters annoying but the film really works because the thrills have aged well. One thing I liked about the film was how things kept going badly for the main characters because they were overthinking things. In one scene the road is being blocked by the police and they assume it’s because of the murder but in the end it was just a drugs checkpoint for some kind of plant. Another time they saw the police around and had to run off but it was just the airport trying to pass on a thank you note and the cops were there purely by coincidence.

Villains would absolutely get paranoid in a situation like this and the movie does a good job of showing this off. It’s not something that you usually get to see which makes this one stand out a bit. Additionally, I liked all of the pitstops. At one point the main characters pass by a village where you are required to have a mustache and actually get pulled over if you don’t have one. The only way to get out of this situation was to get married. The whole thing is so strange and absurd while being rather funny. That was a good scene to include.

Then Jeff crashes into another car and gets taken in by the police chief for questioning. The cops are just happy to have something to do because apparently there is no real crime in this town but of course the timing is tough for Jeff and Margo. All of these little incidents keep on reminding you that these are not pros but amateurs trying to escape a murder charge. It adds to the realism but most importantly it’s just a lot of fun. I really appreciated that.

Overall, This was a pretty good film. It’s a good reminder to watch out for the green grass on the other side because going over there could really end up costing you dearly. Jeff figured this out the hard way and you know many people probably get tricked like this all the time. You have to make sure you take care of what you have, rather than risking it all for a possibility. A solid moral to take away from this title I’d say and I would recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

All right it’s time for a Noir title with pretty good atmosphere and an engaging plot. There is something that holds it back though and that’s the main character. He really didn’t handle things all that well here and really dug his own grave at times. That makes it so that the villain’s plan feels rather convenient as it just should not have worked at any point.

Reggie is a guy who wants to have a good Hollywood career but he has no self control. The guy got into a big fight and ended up losing his job the first time around because he was messing around and had an affair with his boss’s wife. Not a very smart move right? Then after that he finally got married to the daughter of another person he’s working for but at least this time that doesn’t mean he was cheating. The problem? Letters have started coming in from a lady who claims to have been going out with Reggie. He denies it but his wife is taking this very seriously and is worried at this point. Reggie has to set this straight but part of him wonders if maybe this is real and he just forgot.

So this is where the story loses me a little bit. Every time this kind of mystery happens, the main character starts to wonder if maybe he’s crazy. Maybe somehow he did have a secret relationship with someone and forgot about it. You can see how crazy that is right? These characters get gaslit so easily and it doesn’t make any sense. You know if you did or didn’t do something and there’s no way someone should ever be able to convince you otherwise. It’s just really convenient for the villains.

Meanwhile, Reggie looks awful once he goes to confront her. For starters he is immediately flustered and even goes as far as to try and hide the picture of him that was on her desk. This just made it very easy for her to walk in and point out to the wife that he hid it for some reason. Odd behavior if they’ve never met before right? Reggie walked into her traps constantly. Then the worst part was when he decided to make the rumors true by actually cheating on the wife with this lady.

I feel like the film really skims past this when it’s an extremely big moment. Literally he just gets drunk and decides to get together with her. Later on he said it’s because he wanted to test how far she would go if it was an act but that’s just an excuse. Of course she would go far because it just makes her story better and better. This guy really did not think things through and so later on when he’s upset and complaining about how he did nothing wrong….it’s not true because he did. This guy has no self respect or decency about him. It just ends up all being a big mess.

This is a Noir mystery and part of the fun is in seeing how things will play out so I won’t go too far into the twists but what I can say is that the villains are super lucky here. Their plan just shouldn’t work in any sane universe. Usually in a film like this you would have the mysterious lady blackmailing Reggie which is what gets him to respond but that doesn’t happen here. She never asks for money or anything and just sends him letters so that he can’t report this to the police. So all he had to do was tell the wife that the person sending letters is lying and that’s it. It only became suspicious initially because he decided to try and hide the letters instead of immediately telling his wife about them.

Then later on, all he had to do was say that the lady was crazy and move on. Instead he takes her out to a bar without telling the wife and she catches him. It’s crazy misunderstandings like this that happen time and time again in the movie. There’s always someone walking in at the perfect moment to hear something and then the situation gets worse. Once the mystery is unraveled and we get to the actual villain, Reggie has just been compromised too much by that point.

The actual main villain is also super petty and whiny. There’s nothing much to like about that character at all. This may be starting to sound rather negative but basically it’s just that the character cast is really weak. Fortunately a Noir mystery is about much more than the characters. The writing and tension means that this is still a good title, just be prepared to be rolling your eyes a whole lot throughout the movie. You just can’t feel bad for the main character at all.

Overall, Finger of Guilt is a good movie but Reggie really makes things too easy. I would argue that the villains’ plan was about as flimsy as it gets. It revolves around a ton of very convenient things happening and Reggie handling them all in the worst way possible. The writing is still good otherwise but the whole thing doesn’t feel very plausible. At least we do get a little action in the end as they manage to squeeze in a fight. I wasn’t really expecting that at such a late point in the game so it was a pretty interesting way to go. I feel like I spent most of the review talking about Reggie because he’s so awful but it’s also because the plot of the movie is very straight forward particularly when I’m not really talking about the twists. It’s him trying to figure out what’s going on while also going insane the whole time. I would have given him a sadder ending to wrap things up to be honest. Even though she was one of the villains, the mysterious lady was a lot more likable than the protagonist.

Overall 6/10

This was a really big murder mystery film when it first came out. We don’t get a lot of big budget types like this one so it’s always cool when they show up. Murder mysteries are a lot of fun after all and especially when they throw in a lot of suspects so you can really have fun trying to guess who it is. This one certainly had me guessing for a while because this kind of film always has so many twists. I was actually expecting a certain twist to happen at some point but it would have been a really hard sell so it’s for the best that the film didn’t go there.

The movie starts with a big family all converging on a rich mansion. The reason for this is that the head of the family is now dead after seemingly committing suicide. So this should be an open and shut case but the world’s most skilled detective Montblanc is here for some reason. It’s very strange to see him here if there is no murder or criminal action afoot and the cops are assisting him with some kind of investigation. So now the clock is ticking and every member of the family is rather suspicious. They all really have big motives to murder him except for his nurse Maria who got along with him really well and has a good alibi. In fact she has the rare ability where her body forced her to puke whenever she tells a lie. This will be super handy for Montblanc to have on his team so he recruits her as his assistant.

So lets talk about all of the suspects here. First to understand the suspects we have to understand the victim. Harlan is the man who died and he was super rich thanks to his best selling murder mystery novels. The guy’s family really treated him like a bank and they were always trying to get rich off of him which is rough. It is the one part about being rich that i do think would be tough as it’s hard to form normal relationships at that point. Still, Harlan is a fairly intelligent guy and he has decided to cut everyone out. It’s a pretty smart move to be honest and he just has to be careful on the execution because you never know what the other characters may try and do.

Okay so the first suspect is his maid Fran. She’s the first one to find the body after all. She doesn’t have much of a motive for murdering him beyond the money but she had opportunity and time to do so. Of course this is all assuming tat there even is a murder since this appears to have been a suicide but you have to assume that someone is guilty or you wouldn’t have a complete murder here right? Fran’s role isn’t super large next to other characters. She’s okay but really not very intelligent at all and makes one of the worst mistakes that I’ve seen in a while.

The next suspect is Ransom who stormed out of the party really early and so there is a large block of time for which he is completely unaccounted for. Rather suspicious right? He has a big motive here as he was not going to be included in Harlan’s will. So that means he gets nothing out of the inheritance at all but if he bumps Harlan off quickly enough perhaps the new will won’t have taken effect yet and the old one will still be around where he does get some money out of it.

The will itself is a bit of a controversial topic but I agree with Harlan here. A widely accepted notion is that you need to take care of your family. So even if they’re awful, you include them in the will in some capacity. I get it but I definitely do disagree 100%. If you weren’t a good person or we weren’t close at all then why would I put you in my will? I’d rather just give 100% to a nice co-worker or friend. If I don’t know anyone at all then I’ll donate to a bunch of charities but I wouldn’t give to family just because they’re family. In general I don’t tend to buy into very many traditions that are obligation based. That’s just not who I am.

Then there is Linda who is fairly successful thanks to Harlan’s checks and influence. Without him though, the money will dry up quickly and so she definitely needs to be a big part of his will. If he was going to cut off his assistance to her, then it would make sense to bump him off right away. She’s a fun enough character but you can definitely feel how selfish she is from the jump. Of course that’s pretty much the case for every character here.

Richard has a massive motive as he was cheating on his wife and Harlan found out about it. So bumping him off would be a way to take the secret to the grave or at least that would be the main idea here. In general Richard is always upset about something and he’s an entertaining character with all of the grumbling but probably not somebody you would really want to be around. One of the guys he grumbles with is Walt, Harlan’s son. Walt’s big motive here is that Harlan was about to fire the guy from his job which meant that Walt would have to actually start earning his own living soon. That’s likely not something that would come very easily to him so it puts him in a pretty tough spot there. He’s also very quick to start making threats so you know that he can’t really be trusted.

Next suspect is Joni who is into the very abstract spiritual stuff. She believes in keeping an open mind and always being peaceful but of course this goes out the window once money is involved. She needs money and so if Harlan won’t send her checks anymore then that’s going to be a big problem. Again she’s a very selfish character who only looks out for herself and is more than willing to bump someone off. Her daughter Meg isn’t in a great position to be bumping anyone off. She’s definitely not loyal at all and at the end of the day is about as trustworthy as all of the others which means that she is not trustworthy but it’s harder to picture her bumping anyone off.

There’s also Jacob who is another kid that’s really here to mess around. He’s definitely annoying but hard to consider as a murder suspect. Of course everyone is a suspect but you figure this was a grownup task. Well, Montblanc will have to work hard to figure it out. He’s definitely a really fun detective and I really enjoyed the accent. Adding that in was a real genius move if you ask me because it does help him stand out among the other characters. I definitely haven’t seen another big detective with that voice before. Montblanc also has a good sense of humor and tends to steal the show in all of his scenes.

Maria is also a good heroine although a bit weak willed I have to admit. She is the kind of character who can definitely be swayed with a little social pressure and I was hoping she would be a bit bolder. She has her big moments here and there and is a nice person to be sure but for example if someone’s asking for a lot of money then you can’t give it away. It was crazy to see her actually considering letting go of all her immense wealth so quickly when confronted by the other characters. That’s just messed up. I’m telling you there’s no way I’d even remotely consider giving away the money for even half a second here. That’s not even counting the fact that they were not subtle in how they didn’t care much for her initially. Then you’ve got the threats, etc. Yeah Maria was way too much of a pushover in this film.

The only real negative I’d have here is more of a minor one. The gimmick of the main heroine puking every time she tells a lie was pretty gross. It happens quite a lot in the movie too so that we can really see the ability. Of course I get what they were going for here and it’s super handy in solving the mysteries but at the same time I would have preferred any other kind of gimmick. Like maybe telling a lie makes her suddenly bark or do a backflip. Something a little less gross you know?

Again, this is pretty minor but ugh those moments could really be hard to watch. The visual effects for the film are really good though. We get the really cool background with the knives that are sticking out of the wall and of course the mansion looks really good. It’s got a very grandiose feel to it. The soundtrack is more on the calm side as it’s just a subtle backdrop while the mystery is being solved. It makes sense but of course I wouldn’t have minded a few rock songs to have been thrown in here and there.

Overall, Knives Out is definitely a great film. It brings back all of the classic mystery elements in a big budget adventure for the modern day. There’s a lot to love for this title from start to finish and it has a lot of replay value. I would definitely recommend checking it out as soon as possible. We’ll see if the sequel can possibly stand up to this one. It would seem that most definitely think it pales in comparison so we’ll have to see if it can make a comeback somehow.

Overall 8/10

It’s time for a film with a pretty interesting premise, in part because I could see this actually happening in real life at some point. Companies want to keep things confidential after all and right now people sign non-disclosure agreements but at the end of the day those are hardly full proof. What if they could just erase your memories? Oh man that would be a company’s ultimate dream! This movie is pretty fun and will keep you entertained the whole time but I do have to admit that the main character does come across as gullible.

The film starts off by introducing us to Michael who basically contracts with various companies to work on specialized projects. After which his memories are deleted and he goes off to live his life. The positive here of course is that he’s making absolute bank. The guy is basically rich because of the missions but the negative of course is that he’s missing massive parts of his life. He’s completely okay with this and feels that it’s a fair trade off though. Well, one day an old friend shows up and asks him if he is interested in a longer term contract. This one will last 3 years and of course he won’t remember any of it. Michael agrees but when he wakes up, it turns out that he gave away all of his money for some reason and all of the records have been destroyed. Now he is being hunted and it’s all an elaborate frame up. What can he do to get out of this?

I have to give the film more credit here because this is exactly what my worst fear would be. When you’re erasing whole chunks of your memory like that, you seriously have no idea what happened previously and that is opening up the door to all kinds of trouble. You can’t properly defend yourself from someone accusing you of something when you yourself don’t know what occurred right? So long story short, I would never even consider doing this even if the money was really good like this. An added wrinkle is in this film the procedure of removing memories is actually super dangerous as well so one wrong move and you will lose all of your memories or potentially even die in the machine.

Michael is one of those guys who usually takes things in stride. He’s fairly confident in himself and is skilled but as a character I wouldn’t say that he’s great. He’s cool with having one night stands since he figures that he will forget all about them afterwards anyway and that doesn’t make for a particularly solid romance. So once he does fall for someone you have a hard time buying into it. The romance doesn’t seem all that convincing and in large part it’s because the main character doesn’t exactly seem like a great guy.

You still feel bad for him of course since being framed is rough but that’s about it. As the main heroine Rachel isn’t bad. Taking aside the romance plot of it all, she does contribute a lot to the plot and can also be rather tough which I always like to see in the heroine. Michael also has a friend in Shorty who is very helpful here. The guy has a bit of an “I told you so” attitude but it is completely justified he whole time. Like this was a bad idea from the jump and it was pretty clear to see.

Now where the film taps into some interesting themes is with how Michael keeps having items on hand that are useful in very specific circ*mstances at specific moments. It’s basically as if he is following a destiny that is pre written by his past self who saw into the future. I always like theory crafting with time and looking at all of the different ways it could work. Basically, if you can see into the future then does that imply that your future is written in stone, you are just seeing one possible version?, or was that the future but the instant you saw it, it has now changed since you can effect things?

Personally I always go with the one possible version theory because to me it makes the most sense by far. You should be able to change the future once you have seen it and everything being pre written is just hard to buy for me. That said, this one is mainly going in that direction as Michael saw the future and planned things out extremely carefully in a self fulfilling cycle where he saw what was going to happen and made sure that it did. So what happens when two people see the future? Well that’s another interesting one.

The climax is pretty fun as it deals with all of that. On the whole I wouldn’t say the film is super action packed or anything like that but there are a whole lot of chase scenes. We also get the government involved which is always fun. Of course they do tend to get in the way a lot at first as they take everything at face value and fall for the villain’s traps. The fact that they went straight to torturing the lead and nearly frying his brain was a really bad look for them. Come on now can’t they at least pretend to not act like the villains for a little while?

Overall, Paycheck is a pretty fun. On its surface it’s just a classic action thriller but the time manipulation and sci-fi elements help to make it stand out. It has some interesting themes there and while that’s never the focus, it is still a fun little thing to touch on even if it’s just temporary. I’d recommend checking this film out, it’s a solid cautionary tale about how technology can get really dangerous really quickly if you rely on it too much. At the end of the day I personally recommend not letting anyone mess with your memories, but hey that’s just me. Also important to note that even if you don’t remember something, it still happened. So Michael’s idea here about doing stuff since he won’t remember it later on…yeah not a very good idea.

Overall 7/10

This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

I saw this film a little while ago and it’s definitely a solid action film all around. I remember the trailers and promotions for this one really well. The idea of an Accountant being the main character who is also a fighter and it was enough to get some eyebrows raised. Now granted, the film plays out a little differently than I expected since I was basically expecting accountant by day and Punisher by night but the route the movie goes is still solid.

The movie starts by introducing us to Christian who as a kid could not really handle any external stimulus. This would result in a lot of different episodes and panic attacks which gradually caused his mother to run off. His father did his best to train Christian and his brother Braxton even if his methods could be rather intense and tow the line of going too far. Well, it ended up working for Christian who is now an expert accountant who has been able to lead an ordinary life. He continues to train himself for stimulus every night using a custom setup at his house. His latest case is to find out if some money has been stolen by a huge company and this mystery goes back many years. An intern named Dana discovered this so she wants to help him out but he’s a solo act.

Is this guy hiding something though? Ray, the leader of the Treasury (Makes it sound like a big gang organization right?) hires a lady named Marybeth to find out the secret behind this accountant. He blackmails her so that if she refuses he will send her off to jail. That’s a pretty strong motivation so she’s all in but Christian appears to just be an alias that he uses and the guy has been the accountant for many powerful gangs and influential people across the globe. He always vanishes once the job is done and contacting him is next to impossible. Will she be able to pull this off?

Now the film is mainly focused on the two different plots, Christian’s and Marybeth’s. The latter is mostly a red herring in my opinion as you keep waiting for the two paths to connect. Of course they do to an extent but not as much as you would think. I feel like this was all leading up to a big sequel where you will have the payoff but even if we don’t get a sequel, I think this works pretty well. It’s a fun subversion as she continues to be one step behind him throughout the film as opposed to finally getting one over on him. Why is this a good thing? Well, it’d be a little cheesy if someone who just joined the force could track down the man that nobody has ever encountered yet. It would just be a little too fast, but give her a few years and that can of course change.

She’s a solid character through and through though. She also makes the right call in the end which I was glad about because for a bit there I was getting nervous. The “call” involves choosing to accept the help of a vigilante or not and yes while that can sound tricky, I think it’s clear that you have to say yes. You’re putting villains behind bars, it doesn’t matter where the intel is coming from. Meanwhile Ray was also a pretty solid character. He should probably tread lightly because he doesn’t want the Accountant for an enemy but I liked his drive. Replaying his backstory over and over was a bit much but I thought he pulled his weight really well in keeping the subplot interesting.

For the main plot, that’s where the meat and potatoes is. Christian makes for a really fun main character. He’s definitely been through a lot so it was nice to see him be in total control in the present. He has his system and knows how to protect himself. He’s also an expert fighter which is nice and balances out his serious side and comedic moments well. It also comes down to the fact that he’s just a nice guy in general. The film throws a whole lot of plot twists at you by the end and the best one involves the identity of the lady who works with him over the phone.

I thought that was a really nice touch and shows how he really helped improve a lot of other lives around him. It’s a twist that I absolutely did not see coming but works perfectly well when you see it there. That’s why it is such a good twist. Not every twist in the film lands though. One involves the identity of the main villain. So here’s the thing, it’s an unexpected twist which is cool but I think it was handled a bit too abruptly. No matter who the identity is, we know that this villain has been murdering a lot of people already. It’s hard to just let bygones be bygones.

While you could say that the villain is a vigilante like the Accountant to an extent, he’s certainly much more willing to cross the line at the drop of a hat. He’s an assassin for hire after all and while the victims we saw were other villains, he does murder them in rather intense ways and based on his reputation you are led to believe that he has quite the body count. All of this is just to say that you’re not really inclined to root for him in the present no matter what happened in the past. I actually liked him a whole lot in his past scenes but for the present it’s going to take some time.

Meanwhile Dana is a decent character although I don’t think she brought much to the movie beyond trying to squeeze some Hollywood romance in there. Christian works well as a solo act all the way through and they didn’t have a whole lot of banter or enough of a dynamic to make the extra character worth it. If she returns in the sequel you could probably do something with her but it did feel like this was probably it for her character. Her arc is concluded after all so the sequel would likely introduce some new characters.

The film doesn’t actually have a lot of action but the fights that we do get are pretty solid. Again that’s where the film tricked me a little because I was expecting a ton of fight scenes but really we just had the climax and a brief fight in the past. The choreography was on point though and the story is engaging enough where you’re invested all the way through anyway. The film can be sad, funny, serious, etc. It has a whole lot of range here and makes for a very complete film.

What seals the deal on this one being solid is the ending. A film like this could have absolutely destroyed itself with the wrong ending but it leaves a lot of room for a sequel and is satisfying for all of the characters. A whole lot of world building was accomplished here as well which is impressive for a stand alone title. It probably needs to sell me a little more on how Christian managed to stay alive for so long in such a brutal business but you could partially chalk that up to luck or him never really being in a position where someone wants him silenced. We do see some of the specifics on how he stays safe like a moving base and all buttttt I’m just a little skeptical.

Overall, The Accountant is a pretty good movie. The soundtrack may be a little forgettable but the writing is good and I liked the premise a whole lot. It really does throw a unique element into the mix (Being an accountant) and really rides that all the way through to the end. That will also prevent this film from just being forgotten because no matter how many other thrillers come out, it’s unlikely that they would end up copying that part of the plot. Even if they did, it would squarely be known as the copycat which just makes this one get brought up yet again. I’d recommend checking this film out for sure.

Overall 7/10

A Force of One is a pretty good film that really follows all of the right steps. You’ve got some good martial art scenes (Even if it does overuse the slow mo a bit so they don’t keep up with the recent action films I’ve seen like Kickboxer) and the film even avoids throwing in the obligatory romance. All in all it’s a well balanced movie and while it may not end up becoming one of your all time favorites or anything like that, it’s consistently solid all the way through.

The movie starts with a pair of cops trying to crack down on some drug smuggling going on and so they tale one of the guys into a store. Unfortunately they are taken down by a mysterious kung fu fighter before they can even get any shots off. It’s a huge deal because both were murdered and so now the cops really have to try and stop this right away. They even go as far as to try and learn martial arts by asking the champion, Matt for help. Matt is reluctant but ultimately gets involved. He may even suspect who is behind this but will even he be a match for such a deadly fighter?

You can understand why Matt doesn’t really want to get involved here. He is a fighter to be sure but this is really police business and it’s a huge responsibility to jump in like that. He’s got a lot on his plate but this does end up getting personal later on in the film which really ends up forcing his hand. Once Matt is serious he definitely shows why he is one of the top fighters out there. I thought he would do a little better outside of the restaurant in his first main fight with the villain but I suppose he was taken by surprise so you have to consider that.

Once we get to the big fight Matt is dialed in and it’s clear that he is more powerful than his opponent. He really did end up being the strongest and it was nice to see him just be able to win straight up without needing a pep talk or anything like that. Those moments can work sometimes but other times you just want to be able to follow a lead who can just defeat the opponents with no real help.

His son Charlie gets a fairly big role here as well. He wants to be a really great fighter but does tend to get distracted a lot. He’s very young and still has a long way to go but he’s got a lot of heart and means well. He definitely could have handled the final situation a bit better but he still kept on trying all the way to the end so you have to give him some credit there.

Mandy is the main heroine here and she is really invested in stopping the cop killings. Her main task was getting Matt on board and she does a good job there. From there on out she does her best to keep things professional while trying to get more info but the film mainly sabotages any chance for them to get too close which is good. With a serial killer on the loose there really isn’t any time for side adventures right? At least that’s the way that I see it here so this really made a lot of sense. Later on when Mandy tells Matt to stay out of it and focus on the match is the only time I didn’t really agree with her. That just wasn’t possible by that stage.

Then you have the main villain and since the film is part mystery I won’t say who that is. He works well as the final boss since he is powerful and can hold his own for a bit. There just isn’t much time to really develop him as a character though. He barely gets any screen time which will also make it a bit hard to guess that he is the villain so props if you figured it out early on. The film probably could have done more with him but I get their wanting to not spoil the twist early by mistake.

As mentioned the fight scenes are good so you’ll be entertained there. The film is actually pretty good about never making the battles too violent or over the top either. It’s pretty clean martial arts action most of the way through and you can really enjoy the battles. The writing is also good which will keep you engaged and the characters are solid so it’s really a win all the way around.

The weakest aspect of the film is probably the cops trying to piece together what’s going on. Some of their deductions just take too long like not realizing until the end of the film how odd it is that one of the officers had clay in his fingers. That should have stuck out immediately and while it wouldn’t have broken the case wide open, it would have led them on the right track. It felt like that was held back for dramatic effect over the actual logic in universe. So the movie was definitely much stronger when it was just focusing on the battles. I did enjoy the light hearted banter and slice of life moments in the middle though. We had several fun dynamics which you could picture them building a show around. Matt helping out the cops on different cases and such. Yeah I think that would have had potential.

Overall, A Force of One is a pretty good movie. The title is certainly appropriate as well considering how Matt really dominates the characters when it’s a straight fight. I think the worst thing you can say about the film is perhaps that it’s not going to be super memorable by the end. Sure it has the mystery angle going for it but for the most part the film isn’t actually trying to have you solve it. You’re just waiting for the villain to make their move and then the fights can resume. The movie is very by the numbers for the most part but this is another example of why execution is so important. It can all be a little generic as long as it’s still a lot of fun and this movie succeeds in that area.

Overall 7/10

I don’t rewatch mystery films very often so it’s rare to be able to go back and see the whole adventure again while already knowing the ending. This is a rare chance where I was able to do that since I saw the original film a while back. It makes for a fun perspective and all in all this is a pretty good film even if the original is certainly better if you ask me. If you can only pick one version I would say to watch the first one but otherwise this works well enough.

The film starts with Poirot enjoying a nice party and then he gets to witness a big shot enter the room. The super wealthy Linnet. Jackie introduces Linnet to her fiancé Simon and begs Linnet to give him a job. Linnet agrees but also ends up taking Simon himself to be her bride and the two get married very shortly afterwards. Poirot finds this out the hard way after bumping into an old friend Bouc and joining the group on a big honey moon adventure. They’ll be visiting pyramids and going on boat trips. The usual rich people stuff. An obstacle appears though as Jackie shows up and decides to cause a lot of trouble. She has not forgiven Linnet for stealing her man and even has a gun at the ready. Linnet asks Poirot to take care of Jackie but he doesn’t want to be a vigilante. Well, Linnet is shot to death shortly afterwards and now Poirot has to solve the case no matter what. His honor is on the line!

So this movie does add some fluff which does drag it out a bit compared to the original. As a whole the film is still engaging the whole time but the new stuff does happen to be the weakest. For example we see Poirot’s backstory which really doesn’t elevate the film in the slightest. He’s a character we don’t need to know about, just the fact that he is an ace detective. It’s a fairly sloppy origin that does borderline on boring but it’s fairly quick. It does lead to a final scene that will have you shaking your head.

The actual mystery is on point though. Linnet is introduced as a true antagonist all the way through with how she callously stole her best friend’s man like that. Now as they say, anyone who is taken so easily is not someone you want to have as a partner anyway but it’s still a huge betrayal. It also shows once again why you shouldn’t have your partner just dancing around with someone like that. Seriously there is no upside to asking your super wealthy best friend to dance with your fiancé. Particularly when he isn’t super well off which is why he needs a job right away. In the worst case Linnet could have ended up blackmailing Simon or something.

It’s also a very involved dance that is inherently romantic. Now I don’t care if they’re singing Jingle Bells or Bring me to Life, the end result is the same. You just can’t let the dance happen at the start. But obviously that means you are rooting for Jackie to take them out the whole time but she is such an obvious suspect that this should set off a lot of alarm bells in your head. Granted, even Poirot gets emotional really quickly here which shows that he isn’t quite ready for a case of this level but he starts to get his bearings. It is a little embarrassing that he slept through the whole thing but hey it happens to everyone I suppose.

Poirot is still a good main character as always and fun to watch. He definitely likes trying to anger the suspects all the time to really put them in a vulnerable headspace where they could say the wrong thing. It’s actually a really effective tactic when you think about it. Now lets talk about the suspects, there are a ton of them. Everyone should be considered one except for Linnet of course as she was taken out of the picture right away.

First up we have Jackie who is a fun character. I do think the fact that she still wants Simon makes her look really desperate of course because why would you want a cheater back. Taking him 6 feet under makes sense or getting revenge on Linnet but actually getting together with him doesn’t. He’s already been tainted and you would be the rebound at that point. Plus how could you ever trust him again? Ultimately she is a high quality character and one of the most entertaining ones in the film but that’s not the proper motivation that you want.

Another obvious suspect is Simon as well since of course he needed a lot of money and we already saw that he is quick to betray anyone to get to his own ambitions. The guy’s only honor code is that he will do whatever it takes to win. So yeah that’s a good reason as any to suspect him and of course if he is the villain it will make Linnet look pretty bad for letting him in so easily. You always have to consider that maybe your seduction techniques weren’t as great as you thought they were and the other party just let himself be ensnared. Particularly when you’re rich you need to be extra careful.

You have Bouc who is Poirot’s friend so he would have many opportunities to slip past the detective by using this knowledge. The guy wants a romance that is being blocked by his mother so perhaps he is taking his jealousy out on the newly weds. His mother is also a suspect as she believes all romance is a scam and tries to prevent it as much as possible. Someone like that might try to end everybody! Then you have Louise who is always treated terribly by Linnet and who had her own romance brutally crushed. Perhaps this is payback once and for all!

We can’t forget the singer Salome who has a gun of her own at the ready and takes no disrespect. Linnet may have said the wrong thing and that was the end of her. Sometimes all it takes is the wrong word. Then we have Rosalie who likes Bouc but their relationship isn’t approved just yet. Perhaps knocking off Linnet will be enough of a distraction for them to escape together. We can’t forget Linus who was in love with Linnet but was kept to the friend zone the whole time. She basically flaunts the relationship in his face and he has to stand there and take it. The poor guy seems down bad so maybe he finally decided to bump her off.

We also have Andrew who keeps Linnet’s finances and may have finally stolen too much this time. Perhaps he thought she would notice and had to take her out of the picture. There’s also the two older ladies on the trip who could easily launch a sneak attack when nobody was looking. There are all kinds of ways they could have gotten their hands on the gun and then that would be case closed.

So yeah a lot of motives here and there are a number of characters who could have been willing to commit the act. Part of the focus here is that just about nobody liked Linnet at all so they weren’t even sad to see her go. It’s definitely tragic if you’re in her position but she really did dig her own grave on this one. The mystery is solid and so you’ll have a good time here. It’s also long enough where you can really develop all of the characters and get to know them before the end.

As with quite a few murder mysteries I didn’t actually buy into the explanation at the end. The window of time was way too short for this all to work out as it did in the flashback. There would have been witnesses and the whole plan ends up failing at the gate. You just have to shake your head and accept the explanation but I would not say that it was a very satisfactory one. I think the film could have done better there even fi it meant diverging from the book a little. Just rearrange some things.

The film has really nice visuals and good music so the technical elements are on point. Personally this kind of honey moon would not be up my alley though as it seems like a ton of work travelling and everything when you should just be having a good time. I also would not be going anywhere near the hot areas like the desert when I’m trying to have a good time. No shot, I’d be somewhere cold at least.

Overall, Death on the Nile is a solid film. It does end up getting overtaken by the shadow of the original but as long as you’re looking for a solid thriller then you should have a good time here. There’s always something happening so you have to pay attention to every detail. Even if I didn’t buy the whole murder reveal this time or last time, it’s a fun setup which is the important thing. You can always stretch your disbelief a little bit to just have fun with the story. I look forward to seeing how the next installment goes now that we’re dabbling into a bit of horror with that one.

Overall 7/10