A Haunting in Venice

A Haunting in Venice

Celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot, now retired and living in self-imposed exile in Venice, reluctantly attends a Halloween séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.

  • Released: 2023-09-13
  • Runtime: 103 minutes
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
  • Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Emma Laird, Camille Cottin, Riccardo Scamarcio, Kelly Reilly, Ali Khan, Kyle Allen, Amir El-Masry, Lorenzo Acquaviva, David Menkin, Clara Duczmal, Emilio Villa-Muhammad, Vanessa Ifediora
  • Director: Kenneth Branagh
 Comments
  • ThunderingTim - 26 June 2024
    It is not bad but it could be so much better
    The third installment of Kenneth Branaugh's run as Christie's famed Belgian detetctive with the little grey cells is truly a mixed bag. If nothing else, it is always great to see a Poriot movie or a murder mystery or a whodunnit and this movie combines all 3. It also adds an element of horror which is new and refreshing for this genre.

    Unfortunately there are many problems with this flick. All the cute mannerisms that make Poirot so entertaining are gone as Branaugh plays a tired and stern version, very different from Orient and Nile. At times, you are forgiven for forgetting this isn't just some random depressed detective.

    More problematic is Tina Fey. Even Vin Diesel would be jealous of her ability to have a career without talent. She is so wooden, and while it is not her fault, this movie destroys the character of Ms Oliver, who was always interesting in Poirot stories. Every scene is her basically calling Poirot old and obsolete and useless and it gets old real fast. I started to hate this character.

    While I am a huge fan of directors trying unusual shots it was reported audience memebrs felt nauseous watching this movie. The turning around GoPro shots are jarring and while the palazzo is gorgeous, it somehow looks hideous in most shots. Death on the Nile was such a beauty, why does this one look plain bad at times?

    So where does this leave us, dear reader. It IS a good movie, I will perish on that there hill. But it is the lesser of the three. The fun is gone. The unusual camera angles and positions aren't complimenting the story. Beloved characters are ruined. The horor elemnets work though, and it is still a pretty good mystery. An okay film that pales compared to the books you could have read instead. It just makes me rather anxious about the upcoming fourth installment, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", one of Christie's finest. Not good, not bad, 5 stars. *****
  • gnperuti - 2 May 2024
    Who'd have thought Hercule Poirot and ghosts would mix well?
    After the somewhat middling Death On The Nile, this entertaining series gets back to form with A Haunting In Venice. You wouldn't think a ghost story would be suitable for a franchise that's so based in reality, but they manage to make it work, through both some legitimately good scares and providing a solid explanation for most of it at the end while leaving it open as to whether or not it all was truly fake. The film thankfully doesn't take half the runtime to get to the actual mystery this time around, making it feel a lot less rushed and more interesting, with a solid twist ending. With that said, it confusingly doesn't feel like a direct follow-up to the previous film: it's set ten years later and Poirot's in a completely different state of mind from where he was at the end of Nile, with no explanation as to what happened in the interim. So, what was even the point of ending the last film the way it did?

    Kenneth Branagh shines as always as Hercule Poirot, while trying something new by having him face something terrifying and seemingly beyond his control, which he sells flawlessly. Michelle Yeoh is spectacular as usual in her brief screentime. Tina Fey shows she's actually pretty good at more dramatic stuff. Jamie Dornan once again proves that Fifty Shades of Grey was a fluke with his tragic performance. And the rest of the cast is great too, even the kid.

    The sets and costumes are all great. The massive house where the majority of the film takes place is effectively creepy, with some unnerving rooms and objects therein. The music can be genuinely unsettling at times, especially the faint singing that's sometimes heard that seems to come from nowhere. The seance scene in particular is quite disturbing, made even more effective by Yeoh's performance. The only thing that holds it back are some really bad edits that makes it hard to keep track of where people are at times.

    Overall, A Haunting In Venice is yet another example of a film that manages to work despite odds seemingly working against it. I don't know how they did it, but they did, and I look forward to seeing what comes next.
  • davidelro - 16 March 2024
    Survived 14 minutes.
    Total garbage! Rented through Amazon and after 14 minutes we couldn't take it anymore. So bad we had to turn off. Nothing but background noise/confusion that the director, Kenneth Branagh, tries to compensate for with nice a cinematic backing that is just as bad. Nice try, but nope. It's sad that someone would put out a piece of garbage like this. I'm sure lots of peeps will see this review and think I'm a doofus, but you will see for yourself after giving some ass hat like Kenneth Branagh your money. There is nothing interesting about this film plot to draw you in. I did a bot chat with Amazon for a refund and hopefully it goes through and I get a refund. Don't be a victim of this garbage. So many better movies out there.