Dead Again Reviews

Uneven and overblown little thriller with unexpected supernatural touches. Kenneth Branagh, who directed and has the lead role, bring in some some nice visual touches and knows how to build tension but nothing can take away the fact that this film is just too ridicilous to be taken serious.
The Problem here is that it get sillier and sillier as further it the takes us into the mystery. And when the climax comes it goes totally over the top with its opera-like approach and bombastic score by Patrick Doyle.
Screenplay by Scott Frank does have many interesting ideas but not many of them truly works. You still have to give credit for Mr. Branagh and Scott Frank for trying something different than following just old cliches. Dead Again reminded me at times like a more sillier version of Hitchcock's fantastic Rebecca, which also had same kind of mystery in the core of it.
Branagh and his lenser Matthew F. Leonetti does wonders when it comes to black and white cinematography. Those moments truly feel like they are lifted from vintage 40's noir. If this film would focus on it's central mystery rather than those many pointless sideplots and karma mumbo-jumbo, it could actually be something very good, maybe even spectacular. Now it feels more like an potentially good film with some nice visual touches and ideas.
Branagh hasa made much better films in his career as a director but this film is not entirely completely bankrupt as a film and does have its merits.

A woman arrives at a Catholic orphanage without her memory and subject to night terrors. The priest knows of a local detective, a graduate, who'll work for free ... so begins this mostly forgotten gem by Branagh wherein he quite literally throws in everything AND the kitchen sink. Nothing but a film about loving film but the old films in particular. So good I half expected Bette or Humphrey to put in a surprise cameo. Ignore the climax though, so stupid, so lame, you'll laugh out loud.

I love this noir-ish Hitchcock style thriller. Its lots of fun as well. Husband and wife team (married 1989-95) Branagh and Thompson shine as the leads. Branagh also directs. It sounds cheesy, but its not: both leads play dual roles, in 1949 and the present, swapping genders. At times both are funny, charming, perplexed, and exasperated.

The film is well made. Kudos to Andy Garcia's make-up technician. He is as convincing a dying old man as I've seen, complete with a cigarette-smoking tracheotomy! I think I'll give up smoking. Robin Williams also has a meaty, though small role. Its a great ride; the supernatural aspects could have been hokey but instead are gripping and mysterious, especially in the climax.

Whatever happened to Wayne (Hello,Newman) Knight?

It's a pretty good thriller, but there are aspects about it that bother me. The score is completely over-the-top and the final minutes I was laughing all the way through. Other than that, it wasn't too bad.

While some of the dramatics are turned up to Spanish soap-opera levels, the script and story are solid overall.

This is actually a really good, and often overlooked movie! Andy Garcia is very good, you just have to get past Branagh?s awful accent!

Excellent thriller about a woman (Emma Thompson) who has nightmares about a murder. Kenneth is the private detective who helps solve the case. This movie is erry and I couldn't look at a pair of scissors for a long time!

Dead Again is a well done mystery and suspense. Emma Thompson plays a lady whom in present day has amnesia and has reoccurring nightmares of a woman dying in the 40's. A detective (Branagh) take on the case and tries to help the bothered lady by brining her to sessions for hypnosis. Many strange and scray things arise from these sessions...worh seeing.

A great thriller about reincarnation.

A cool reincarnation murder mystery which uses past-life regression to reveal some clues.

Stupid damn movie. There's flashes of brilliance in the tone and presentation, mostly helped out by Emma Thompson's layered and interesting performance (with material that really gives her little to work with). In fact, all the performances are pretty neat because they double over their roles, which is probably the best thing that can be said for the God-awful time lapse plot gimmick.

Dead Again balances its entire storyline on an implausible view of reincarnation, one so much so that it makes the film literally impossible to accept. Having just seen (and enjoyed) Deja Vu, it seems a little unfair of me to pan the film on the basis of a supernatural/larger-than-humanity premise, but at least Deja Vu explored possibilities for its mechanics. Sure, they were tenuous, but they were there. Dead Again creates a shallow philosophical tenet and asking us to weigh our entire suspension of disbelief on it. It is completely risible. Speaking of risible, the climax is almost impossible to take seriously, with a lot of villainous mugging and hilariously uncool one-liners. What a horrible antagonist. Oh, and how gratuitous was the Robin Williams character, really? Veeeeehicle.

Dead Again is a weak mess. Kenneth Branagh's direction, as with his acting, is hit and miss, and the merits that this film is spotted with are far outweighed by the flaws. Skip this one.

Annoyingly affected noir clone that's disastrously miscast, confusing and tedious.

Kenneth Branagh's attempt in at romance noir culminated in Dead Again, a bizarre, lackluster, and increasingly dumb affair.

To be sure, I love good film noir, and Dead Again has its moments. This is especially notable at the start of the film, having a good atmospheric set up, and a certain stylistic touch to the dialogue that I appreciated. As the film progressed, however, it got increasingly melodramatic to the point of almost being self parody. The existence of supernatural 'themes' is not an excuse for a profoundly dumb third act, with motifs about as subtle as the film's climax (an apartment decorated with pictures of scissors, for example).

An overall misguided and disappointing entry by Branagh.

2/5 Stars

One thing is for sure, after seeing this movie, you?ll never look at a pair of scissors the same way! It probably also served as the inspiration for anti-smoking commercials by the American Cancer Society.

Dead Again is Kenneth Branagh?s nod to film noir classics with murder, mystery and private detectives, and with a slightly supernatural twist. The film is notable because it?s a superb group of actos from the British stage having fun working together. It?s pretty humorous to see Branagh trying to hold an American accent, as well as Emma Thompson, but watching that old team work together made it almost believable anyway. There?s also a very interesting cameo by Robin Williams, and Wayne Knight (Newman!) in his first significant film role. The performances are what you?d expect from this group: They carry their characters well, and this helps engage the viewer, and the witty script keeps you interested on where this story is going.

The story itself is about the murder of a famous composers? wife, and his subsequent execution. You?d think the story would end there, but in a cleverly scripted set of twists, Branagh?s PI named Mike Church (appropriate) meets an amnesia victim with strange knowledge of the old murder. You might guess the ending long before it comes, but it?s a rather enjoyable journey to get there. It?s not a heavyweight film with a big aspirations, but it?s entertaining, and has a regular doses of ironic humor throughout.

If you like detective drama, you might like Dead Again. There?s no shootouts or memorable chases, as it?s more Agatha Christie than Bourne Supremacy, but it?s solid entertainment for an evening in with some popcorn, and someone you like.

Ah the super ex-couple Branagh and Thompson come to North American screens with this good but slightly silly story about a couple re-enacting the life of a copule from the past.

Potty as well as preposterous. Well, what would *you* call a movie featuring amnesia, past lives, regressive hypnosis, fake accents, reincarnated souls, and a murderous manifestation of karma? Doesn't help that both Thompson and especially Branagh hopelessly overact while fighting with their American pronunciation. This is a very rare case where the plot twists work pretty well but it's the rest of the screenplay that stinks.

A rare gem about the past lives and the influence it has on the present life. The story was interesting, but sort of like those from Tales From the Crypt. The twist was too easy to guess, though the acting from Thompson and Branagh saved the film

Great psychlogical, neo noir thriller. I particulary like the b&w flashback scenes that involves the Emma Thompson character's past. A McGuffin object(A pair of scissors which writer Scott Frank would later use in Minority Report) the private investigator played by Kenneth Branagh who believes he knows all the clues to uncover the idenitity of(Thompson) and a great score by Patrick Doyle.

"Dead Again" almost feels like a TV picture but suceeds on every level going back to true storytelling that involves more on the characters rather then on the plot.

Great story and solid directing! Emma Thompson is mesmerizing!

Kudos to Kenneth Branagh for holding "Dead Again" together and keeping it serious even when the film ventures into preposterous territory. This is a film that contains only a handful of moments that seem remotely plausible, and even then our logic is tested. But somehow Kenneth Branagh keeps it from being dumb. His "Dead Again" has all of the right elements needed in order to be entertaining.