Death On The Nile Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

2. The Inconsistent Visual Effects

Generally speaking this is a very well-produced film that makes the most of its exotic setting to heighten the sexy intrigue of its central whodunnit, but despite a mighty $90 million budget it's often clear we're watching a film produced with a lot of digital trickery.

For starters, the film's otherwise spectacular prologue sequence features a digitally de-aged Kenneth Branagh playing a younger Poirot during the First World War, but the effect never even remotely convinces.

Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe's mind-boggling VFX wizardry to de-age their cast members, here Branagh's face has a plastic, overly smooth sheen to it that distracts from the words actually coming out of his mouth.

As for the bulk of the movie, though there are some fantastic establishing shots of the cruise ship chugging along the bank of the Nile, too often it's made abundantly clear we're watching something filmed on a green screen soundstage in London.

The almost too-perfect magic hour lighting of the skyline doesn't always convincingly match with how the actors are lit, giving the film an artificial aesthetic some may find overly garish.

This is particularly apparent during a shot where the jealous Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey) first boards the ship in slow-motion.

Again this isn't a fatal flaw but it does demonstrate the limitations of a mid-budget blockbuster such as this.