Dead Again (1991)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Scissors. Scissors. Scissors. Yes. Indeed - Scissors!.... So phallic (?). And, yet, so suggestively female (?), as well.... And, believe me - Actual penetration can be oh-so deadly! Slick. Glossy. Intense. Intriguing - (There's no denying it) - Dead Again was (most definitely) all of these things. But, alas, by the time that the ending rolled around, this film somehow failed to satisfy this viewer as being a genuine Thriller geared to the intellect..... Needless to say, though, Dead Again was an unusually constructed Suspense/Drama, if nothing else.And, yet, regardless of being a well-crafted and highly-stylized film production (with shades of "Hitchcock" thrown in for good measure) - Dead Again's basic story-line was ultimately just too-too dense, and, yes, just too-too artificial, to actually achieve its overall magic to its anticipated potential."Dead Again" trivia - Upon its initial release back in 1991, this film remained the absolute #1 movie at the box-office, all across the nation and beyond, for 3 solid weeks running.

Branagh's ambitious past-life thriller is very much a product of its time, and seen today it feels rather dated: there are cheesy haircuts and outfits galore. Plus, the viewer never really believes Branagh's American accent, which remains distracting throughout the movie. Yet DEAD AGAIN succeeds where other movies fail: it feels original for the most part, and it possesses enough inventiveness on the part of Branagh the director to make it a fairly engaging viewing experience. The film has many overblown moments where good ol' Ken emulates Hitchcock and the like, especially in the use of some silly slow-motion towards the end. But the black-and-white sequences set during the '40s are pretty good and, although fairly slow-paced, the film manages to retain the interest throughout.The casting is also pretty decent; Branagh and Thompson are here teamed up again, and both of them are required to act in many different styles. Derek Jacobi, another regular, is excellent as the stuttering hypnotist, and God, doesn't he look creepy without the beard? There are other stars too who make an impact, from Robin Williams' foul-mouthed supermarket worker (grimy and paranoid) to Wayne Knight (JURASSIC PARK) as Branagh's buddy. One rather odd thing is the last twenty minutes of the film, which finishes up the mystery and drama side of the story after offering a nice twist, and becomes standard psycho-thriller territory, along the lines of THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE and all the others that were popular at the time. The diverse range of elements and the passion put into this movie make it a standalone piece of cinema.

"Dead Again" slipped under the radar in the early 1990s, and since then its director and star Kenneth Branagh has become somewhat of a controversial figure, primarily for the (over?)ambitious nature of the projects he tackles. This "smaller" but still audacious early effort is worthy of re-discovery: the script is cleverly twisted, tightly constructed and has a sense of humor, the direction is measured and balanced, the casting is expert (has Emma Thomson ever been more gorgeous, and more casual, than in the present-day sections of this movie? Also, Derek Jacobi is perfect and Robin Williams' cameo appearances are hilarious), the music score is lush and extravagant, and the payoff is satisfying. Perhaps you can find small faults here and there, but they don't seem to matter in the larger picture. *** out of 4.

This sounded like a really good movie for me. A mystery. Reincarnation mixed in. Three really fine actors. What could go wrong? Well, it depends on how one likes a film mystery to progress. There really are 2 styles -- setting out the basics of the mystery early on and then letting the viewer in on the resolution...OR...keep the viewer in the dark, allowing him to see just one clue at a time and then resolve the film in the last few minutes. I'm a fan of the former style, but this film is of the latter style. So it was not until almost 90 minutes into the film -- when we got the key clue -- that I really began to enjoy and appreciate this film. A better film would have sprinkled some of these clues earlier on in the film. And the ending is a humdinger! Kenneth Branagh is good here. Emma Thompson is really good. But, at least for me, Derek Jacobi (as a psychic) really steals the show! So for me, you've got a D film for the first hour, then an A film the last half hour. Comes out to a C (7).