A dead man, a detective and 12 passengers with suspicious pasts all on one train must decide who is guilty for the murder.

“The Murder on the Orient Express” directed by Kenneth Branagh and based off the original book by Agatha Christie came out in theaters Nov. 10. The movie features a world renowned detective, Hercule Poirot, who gets stuck on a train with 13 other passengers and one of them has been murdered. He only has a short amount of time before attendants can move the train again and give the corpse over to the police. This is problematic because there is a black passenger on the train that will be blamed for the murder, whether he is innocent or not, because of ongoing racism. Poirot must interrogate each passenger and solve the case before time runs out.

The setting of the movie was overall really thought out; every detail and amenity that an old luxury train would have had was included. The golden finishes and the lights mixing with the old wooden molding add to the feeling of truly being pampered in the olden days. With the elaborate bunks as well as the perfected dining carts, everything was made to be seen as upper class. Not only were the sets well put together, but the actors that played in the movie strongly portrayed their characters by making us believe we were actually in that time period.

The lead of the movie, Kenneth Branagh, was the detective who sought out to help the passengers. Apart from the fact that he also directed the movie, he really shows the audience what a clever, and a little bit arrogant, man would have been like in the 1920s to ’30s. Branagh illustrates with his actions that he is a tired, older gentleman that just wants to be left alone but will put on a brave face to help people for the greater good.

With his skills in both acting and directing, there was one actor that, for the small amount of time he was on screen, stole the show and our hearts.

Johnny Depp, who is used to playing the mysterious, bad guy with his many works and experience in multiple films, took the screen and made us all forget that we were in a movie. As soon as Depp opened his mouth to say his first line, he had us believing every word. Being in a somewhat evil, malicious role is no small feat, but Depp handled it just as he would any other role and, as usual, did an incredible job.

The movie itself was very well-produced and thought about in great detail. Some say that it got a little boring because the characters never really left the train but then again, that is what the entire plot is about. “The Murder on the Orient Express” was an overall entertaining and thought-provoking movie, and the directors just so happened to leave the plot open to make a second movie for Christie’s book “Death on the Nile,” so I suspect it shouldn’t be too long before we start seeing trailers.