Death On The Nile Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

4. The Game Ensemble Cast

Branagh may be the best of show, but he's supported by quite the excellent ensemble indeed.

Surely taking second place behind Branagh is Sex Education's Emma Mackey, who is delightfully charming and dangerously sultry as Simon Doyle's (Armie Hammer) jilted former lover Jacqueline de Bellefort.

Hammer, for all of his alleged personal failings, is meanwhile perfectly cast as the fair-weather newlywed Doyle, bringing a pleasant amount of ambiguity to the role - perhaps unavoidably informed by his recent headlines - that we're never quite sure which way the character will go.

Elsewhere Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie is a hoot as Linnet's french maid Louise, Sophie Okonedo is a seductive blast as jazz singer Salome Otterbourne, and Letitia Wright, antivax controversy be-damned, turns in fine work as Salome's niece Rosalie.

This is without getting into smaller but enjoyable parts for the likes of Annette Bening, Tom Bateman, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders.

It all adds up to a can't-miss concoction, and Branagh is smart enough to keep mixing up the configurations of actors he pairs together.