A Haunting in Venice (Digital) review

[David Vaughn]

A Haunting in Venice (Digital) review

Studio: 20^th Century Studios / Disney
Release Date: October 31, 2023 (Digital) November 28, 2023 (Blu-ray)
Rating: PG-13
Film: 4.5/5
 
Plot
A Haunting in Venice is set in eerie, post-World War II Venice on All Hallows’ Eve and is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world’s most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a 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. 
 
My Thoughts
I’ve been lukewarm to the two previous Poirot films starring and directed by Kenneth Branagh. While I’ve found them entertaining, they have ultimately been somewhat forgettable even with their all-star casts. That’s certainly not the case here. My wife and I were on the edge of our seats from beginning to end and found our hearts racing occasionally because the film was much scarier than we had anticipated it to be.
 
The cast here isn’t full of household names outside of Tina Fey and Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone), but there were familiar faces throughout and after finishing the film we had to go to IMDB.COM and have some “ah hah” moments of remembering what other projects that we’d seen them in.
 
The story itself is well done and the adapted screenplay by Michael Green is excellent. Furthermore, the cinematography is lusciously shot and having Venice as a backdrop certainly helps. Fox/Disney provided a 4K digital code, which I ended up watching on the Movies Anywhere app via a Shield Pro. Thankfully I have Gigibit Internet speed into my home so compression due to bandwidth was never an issue. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to tell whether this was streamed or was coming from disc because the image looked so damn impressive. Even the compressed Dolby Atmos stream sounded quite good. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching a lot more streaming content lately, but this was one of the best streamed presentations I’ve watched to date.  
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqRX8KTg0BM
 
 
Conclusion
This is much more of a spooky story than I had anticipated and my wife and I both loved it. The whodunit is entertaining and will keep you guessing until the very end. I really wish I’d been sent the Blu-ray to review, but I have to admit that the streamed version I watched didn’t seem to be lacking in the A/V department. If you enjoyed the previous two Poirot films, then you should like this one since I consider it the best of the three thus far. Recommended.
 
 
Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-RS2000 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
(Calibrated with Portrait Displays CalMAN color calibration software & C6-HDR Meter from Portrait Displays)
Stewart Filmscreen - Firehawk 88” 16x9 Fixed Screen
Trinnov Altitude 16 Audio/Video Processor
ATI AT527NC Powering Bed Channels
ATI AT524NC Powering Atmos Speakers
Panasonic DP-UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
System Controller: URC MX-990
M&K S-150 THX Ultra (R-C-L Speakers)
M&K SS-150 x4 (Surround Speakers)
Atlantic Technology IC6-OBA x 4 Overhead Speakers
Dual Rythmik FV15HP2 subwoofers
Mini DSP HD controlling all subwoofers
Audioquest and Monoprice - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling

PureAV PF60 Power Conditioner

[bmoney]

also really enjoyed this one. thanks for the review

[SRW1000]

Thanks for the review, David.

I also didn't like the first one very much, and the second one even less.  That's a shame because Branagh is talented both as actor and director, it just didn't come through in either of the other two.  

This new storyline sounded interesting, and I'm glad to see that you and your wife liked it.  I'm glad I took a shot and added it to my rental list.

[David Vaughn]

Thanks for the review, David.

I also didn't like the first one very much, and the second one even less.  That's a shame because Branagh is talented both as actor and director, it just didn't come through in either of the other two. 

This new storyline sounded interesting, and I'm glad to see that you and your wife liked it.  I'm glad I took a shot and added it to my rental list.

Let me know what you think. We went in with low expectations and were pleasantly surprised (we felt very much how you did about the first two). 

[SRW1000]

Well, I'll say this is easily the best of Branagh's Poirot movies, it just didn't work for me.

All of the technical elements were fantastic.  The sets, costumes, and cinematography were all perfectly crafted for this kind of movie, really putting the audience into the time and setting.  The cast was engaging as well, with Tina Fey's portrayal as mystery writer Ariadne Oliver being a breath of fresh air to a typical genre movie.  I wouldn't mind seeing her in a standalone offshoot, with one caveat that gets into spoiler territory.  And the script starts out promisingly, with an interesting setup and clever plot hooks.

But once the revelations start, the movie quickly runs out of steam.  I didn't buy the first ones at all, and they felt totally out of character.  Then we get to the big one, and that's where the movie really lost me.  When watching a mystery movie, I enjoy the opportunity to work along with the detective in spotting clues and having an active chance of coming to the same solution.  That's extremely unlikely in this movie.  While the audience will pick up on specific clues, the final revelation will be hidden from anyone that doesn't have specific, esoteric knowledge of an obscure subject.  That alone isn't enough to sink the film, but combined with the actual way that the story is resolved actions that follow just pulled me out of it.

It was good enough to consider watching the next one, if it gets made, which is a much greater accomplishment than Death on the Nile had going for it.

As an aside, the outtakes included with the extras are really odd.  Some of them are only a few seconds long; it's easy to see why they were cut out of the movie, as they added nothing.