People are voting emotionally.

Absolutely Fantastic

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Through no fault of the actors, this was yet again a poor remake of the excellent original starring Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple as written by Dame Christie.Julia McKenzie is a fine actress and certainly more believable than the middling actress who played her so poorly and made a spoof of her.The writing is very much at fault in these remakes. It's trying TOO HARD to be clever and different at the expense of an already good story line. I found myself waiting for it to be done with so I could turn it off instead of enjoying it. Shame on the network for not truly appreciating Agatha Christie's simple genius of Miss Marple.I'm sticking with the original series. Joan Hickson was the only TRUE Miss Marple thus far that I've seen.

Starting from a minor but irritating point: whoever thought it a good joke to include Ian Fleming and James Bond did not think about the chronology. The first Bond book was published in 1953, while this story is set in the post-colonial 1960s - the black police inspector tells Marple and Rafiel that the British are not in charge here any longer.Otherwise, a fairly good job. I knew it was filmed in South Africa but if I hadn't known I would have bought it as a Caribbean island. I haven't been to either place, though. I also haven't read the novel. I have seen the 1983 version with Helen Hayes many years ago, but don't remember a single thing about it.IMO Antony Sher gave the best performance as the wheelchair-bound millionaire. MyAnna Buring as Lucky is another cast member I will remember, something striking about her. The plot I already forgot, as with most Christie adaptations. The photography could have been more inspired, now it looked a bit muddy most of the time.

It wasn't too long ago that I watched the Joan Hickson version of this same tale and, while I enjoyed the color of it, I did feel that that version dawdled a bit too much and lacked forward motion, lingering in the characters and losing momentum the more it went on. So with the new ITV version I was pleased to find that the thing I usually dislike about them actually worked in its favor – the color, the liveliness and the pace. The mystery kicks in very quickly indeed and apart from a few sidesteps it more or less keeps things coming so that I felt engaged with the story. As is normal for me, I wasn't right there with the characters when the resolution was revealed, but I did feel like I was at least going with it.The one exception is an odd moment where James Bond and Ian Fleming make it into the story; it is amusing perhaps but it served no purpose other than, if you're cynical, getting the writer a trip to the location for the sake of a few minutes of screen time. Higson probably deserved it though as he has done a good job as writer, making the story flow and having the material match the heat and color of the setting. The cast mostly get this too. McKenzie is still not really someone I like as Marple, but she is good here and in particular works very well with Antony Sher. The rest of the cast isn't quite that famous but has good turns from Webb, Brown, Wakefield and others.Overall an enjoyable and lively piece of Sunday night mystery; it has color and energy and comes together pretty well.

A really excellent episode opens this new Mackenzie season!The tropical atmosphere ,with hurricanes,voodoo and a very stuffy jungle is used perfectly for the creation of a compelling story,very faithful and with some clever new tricks added to the original.I liked particularly the accident about the murdered maid and her own zombie,used by Higson in a very clever way for giving an alibi to the murderer.I think it's the first time that zombies are used in a whodunit as a part of the murdering plot,and they have done it in a very subtle way,simple and particular in its own way.The directing is wonderful,the research of the murdered maid,the death of poor major Palgrave,the final discovery of the guilty party are particularly effective,as Bethany Cox has pointed out.Personally,I liked very much Webb as a caring husband,overwhelmed by his wife's madness.Charles Mesure was an excellent Dyson(I would have preferred it to Barnes-Worrell for Etienne De Sousa ,in Dead Man's Folly),and I liked too the smitten canon played by Rigby with a surprising romantic part at the very happy end.Of course Sher is the best of the lot, gruff,amusing and endearing,and he has a wonderful chemistry with Great Julia (the only reproach I could made to the Hickson version was the absolute lack of chemistry among Great Joan and Great Pleasence,two wonderful actors but in some way having in the movie no mutual empathy at all,I don't know why!) .Ford Davies is a sympathetic major and Norris a wife so strong,determined and highly dramatic that in some way wipes away completely her husband,poor Alastair Mackenzie,a good actor but in this case singularly bland and opaque.Higson is really a good new entry for the series.I hope he will pens other scripts with the same cleverness.Marple must not let us orphans too after Poirot's untimely death.We can't lose them both,someone must remain alive for carrying the holy torch of Agatha on ITV channel!New Marple seasons,please,it's mandatory!We want to see Julia in the Idol House of Astarte and in the Crooked House,under the Postern of Fate ,chasing N or M in a flashback prequel and tasting a swig of Sparkling Cyanide!