Adapted from the original novel by Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express is a thrilling story that surpassed the the pages of its book and continued to the big screen and the theater stage. In this most recent film, we follow the famous detective, Hercule Poirot, on a short vacation by a train that is owned by a close friend of his. His journey on the Orient Express turns sour when one of the other passengers is killed. To make even matters worse, an avalanche buries the engine under mounds of snow, preventing passage for several days.

Detective Poirot is forced into solving the grisly murder case while everyone waits for an extraction team to dig them out and for the police to be called in order to proceed to their destination. Armed with his great intellect and knack for reading people, Poirot begins to uncover the truth of what happened, however, this is one culprit neither he nor the audience expected.

This movie was absolutely brilliant.

Since I had seen a theater adaptation several months ago, I already knew all of the spoilers, but I was still excited to see what Hollywood could do with the plot. The movie utilizes black and white flashbacks well, showing the audience important aspects of the story: ones that would not have had the same effect emotionally had they just been recited by one of the characters. Each actor’s portrayal of their character was wonderful and added to the chilling realness the film created, making us feel as if we were actually there among the accused, being interrogated as Poirot tried to put the pieces together and find the murderer. This, coupled with beautiful visuals of snowy mountains and the gorgeous interpretation of the train itself, shows that the director, Kenneth Branagh, created nothing short of a masterpiece.

The best thing about the movie, however, was not how it looked, or how good the actors were, but the message it carried. Justice is not black and white: nothing in this world is. There is no such thing as being completely right or completely wrong, and it is impossible to judge people through such a misguided lens.

If you want to walk away from a movie feeling satisfied, but empty at the same time, definitely go and see the Murder on the Orient Express while it is still in theaters.