Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar

I couldn't help but think of the many Poirot movies set in the middle east. Those were imbued with sound, heat, mystery, etc. Of these exotic locations. Poirot always insistent on pursuing his british/belgium idiosyncrasies while trying to enjoy his "vacations " which was always interrupted by a wonderful murder. (See Death on the Nile).

This is the complete opposite. The first part of the movie focuses on christie trying to imbue her novels with "romance." She is encouraged by new friends to go to Iraq, and it is downhill from there. The Christie actress is bland, the murder of someone is not clear...apparently the monkey imbibed the poison.. The rest of the ensemble (except for young Max) is boring and unforgettable. Even the scenery is dusty and boring. There didn't seem to be any music or sound effects to heighten our attention to murders or significant scenes.

Watch the first of these Christie driven movies. The one that depicts Christie when she disappeared for a few weeks, made a couple of years back. That actress successfully depicted Agatha as a serious author, but with a lovely sparkle underneath. There is no sparkle here.

Lyndsey Marshal has a history with Agatha Christie adaptations and I believe she was a good fit for the character of Agatha in this film. However the character itself was a bit too bland. Also the story was showing random people getting killed without telling us anything about them. Agatha's lack of emoting combined with the overall care free reaction to murder of just about everybody made the film feel implausible.

Now, the acting was decent for all, without it being stellar in any way, but it was really difficult to empathize with any of the characters or feel for the history or culture of Iraq. And to top it all off, they added the artificial character of Pearl, whose only reason for existence seemed to be being an educated and attractive Black young woman who had a few scenes to complain about not being taken seriously, then proceed to be irrelevant to the story.

Bottom line: the storytelling felt amateurish and failed to compel me in any way. Too bad, because the acting was good.

This was slow and plodding. It managed to make 95 minutes feel like 3 hours. The main actress playing Agatha lacked charisma and it had a bit of an amateur feel to it, although it was made as a TV movie. On the plus side, the production values were very good, so it was a shame that it wasn't a better script with a bit more drama and played less flat. This is probably the dullest Agatha Christie related movie that I have ever seen. At least the ones made in the 80s were entertaining.

I had some expectations for this, largely due to Ms Marshal's presence, and it does indeed have several high values.

But it has three features which spoiled it for me: the weirdly soporific sound quality; the dismal pacing; the, let's face it, dreadful script; the cringe-inducing stabs at romance for the lead character; these four chief weapons; -- yes, after watching it, one feels one has been entertained by the Spanish Inquisition.

... can't cover the tackiness and silliness swirling in by the minute.

Another contrived and pretentious mess.