‘A Haunting in Venice’: Ghostly sights stump Poirot (briefly) in instantly involving murder mystery

At the behest of a friend (Tina Fey, left), Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) attends a séance led by a medium (Michelle Yeoh) in “A Haunting in Venice.” (20th Century Studios)

On first blush, Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot and Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall couldn’t be more different, but on some level they’re brothers from another genre.

• The 68-year-old Washington is currently on big screens with “Equalizer 3,” following the original in 2014 and the sequel in 2018, while the 62-year-old Branagh joins Washington in the multiplex with his third Poirot movie, following “Murder on the Orient Express” in 2017 and last year’s “Death on the Nile.”
• Branagh’s Poirot is a war veteran with OCD tendencies who long ago lost the love of his life. Washington’s McCall is a war veteran with OCD tendencies who long ago lost the love of his life. And while Poirot and McCall have very different ways of exacting justice, both are legends in their profession who have a unique ability to enter a room filled with suspicious characters and mete out justice to the guilty before it’s all over. They’re brilliant!