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Customer Reviews of Dead Again [Region 2]

A Minority Report
This minority report says that DEAD AGAIN could have been, but is not, a great film. DEAD AGAIN was obviously made as a loving parody of the Hitchcock/film noir genre, because some scenes, camera work and music are so broad that the tongue positively sticks through the cheek. However, much of the movie is played straight, and thus, overall, the tone is confused. My minority report says that the American accents of Branagh and Thompson, both superb British actors, were not convincing. In fact, their efforts to sound American in their modern "incarnations" caused their acting to suffer. Branagh thinks that to sound American is to be a Noo Yawkuh (sorta), and Thompson is so busy trying to sound Amurik'n that her character lacks luster, even taking into account that the character is a victim of amnesia walking around in a perpetual state of hyper-vigilance, caution, confusion and/or dread. Similarly, I disagree that the performance of Robin Williams was good. His character was creepy for no particular reason, although one sinister close-up of him looking back at our protagonists hints at some darker purpose, which is never revealed. Just another "fake out" in the service of phony film noir suspense. <
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>Yes, the film has a very clever plot twist at the end. But my minority report has a serious bone to pick with those reviewers who feel that DEAD AGAIN holds up on second viewing, once you know the secret: A major flaw involves the sloppy use of flashbacks in the form of hypnotic regressions that are performed on Branagh or Thompson by Derek Jacobi's antique dealer-hypnotist. Although ostensibly coming from either Branagh's or Thompson's hypnosis session, the flashbacks frequently reveal both their actions, even when they're separated from each other at the time. For example, during one of Branagh's hypnosis sessions, he recalls being inside at a party, having a conversation with another man, while simultaneously somehow recalling Thompson and Garcia outside having a conversation in the garden. It's impossible for Branagh to have been in two places at once. He couldn't possibly have heard or seen the interaction between Thompson and Garcia that is supposed to be a product of his own memory. The audience thus receives more information than it logically should. This method of plot exposition is fundamentally flawed. <
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>And somebody please explain to me how a person that's been stabbed deeply in the knee with a sharp pair of scissors can still walk, or how somebody who's been shot at close range in the left side of the chest can revive themselves sufficiently to fight on and survive. <
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>Add up these annoying inconsistencies and deficiencies (and others I won't bother to list here), and place them side by side with the earnest and committed work of otherwise excellent actors. You end up with a 3-star movie: entertaining in a campy, kitschy kind of way, but not great, as it might have been. See the film if you love the actors, but be prepared to be disappointed.

Great suspense ride
Dead again is one of my favorite movies. I must admit I have probably wached it a dozen times or more over the years. Ken Branagh gives a clever performance here as the devil may care private detective vs his past life performance as the maestro who is sitting on death row as the movie opens. It's too bad Ken gave up his acting for directing. Emma Thompson is wonderful as the amnesiac who falls into hypnosis like a duck does to water. The plot keeps twisting and turning and you never really know who is undoing who. Robin Williams, whose name isn't even in the opening credits gives a dark intriguing performance here in a small, but quite good as the used to be psychiatrist. And Derek Jacobi, the infamous Frankie the hypnotist took a step away from London and Shakespeare to Hollywood for this film is very convincing. The Hitchkock like supsense that keeps bouncing back and forth from present to past is fascinating. The DVD comentary keeps referring to it as a noir film whatever that is, it truly keeps you on the edge of your seat until the end. I am a hypnotist with <
>a fascination with past lives, this story has all the right elements for me. I highly recommend this film