I really wanted to like this film. I don't hate it, but it really isn't that good. It was so forgettable I forgot it and mistakenly rented it a second time thinking I hadn't seen it. Not even Robin Williams (the reason I queued it up a second time) brief appearance is enough to save it from its mediocrity. It delivers what the trailer promises. If you are into these kinds of stories and haven't seen it, you won't be disappointed. Still, it could have been better. Maybe.

A mute woman (Emma Thompson) with amnesia is found by the nuns at an orphanage. She's haunted by nightmares. They recruit private investigator Mike Church (Kenneth Branagh). He brings her to Pete Dugan (Wayne Knight) for a picture in the papers. The County hospital is overcrowded and he brings her to stay with him. Franklyn Madson (Derek Jacobi) offers to help after reading the newspaper. He's a psychic hypnotist and his sessions reveals her past life as pianist Margaret Strauss and her husband Roman Strauss who was on death row for her murder. There is also Margaret's friend Gray Baker (Andy Garcia). Doctor Cozy Carlisle (Robin Williams) tells them treating a patient with her past life. Doug (Campbell Scott) claims to know her but is quickly found to be lying.It's a movie hearkening back to old Hollywood and even in the style of Hitchcock. It's an intriguing style. The old story in black and white is less compelling for some reason. There are times when it's not as sharp as one wishes. Campbell Scott's karate kick is almost comical. There are opportunities for real tension but one can almost see the strings being pulled. It's a movie that I would like to love more than in reality.

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.

I caught this on HBO the other night. I have to go against the grain here and say that I found the movie good enough to keep me watching once I had invested some time in it, but barely. Of course it has a (now) star-studded cast, and that wasn't really its weakness. SPOILERS FOLLOWI found the plot to be all over the place. It severely tested my suspension of disbelief. Okay, the premise is one of past lives (in which two people are somehow reincarnated into spitting images of their former selves who both live in the same city along with their original antagonists) and hypnotic regression... I can live with that for the sake of the story. But from there the plot continues to test my credulity with increasingly ridiculous, and mostly pointless events and twists:Why would Franklyn risk regressing Grace in Mike's presence, thinking that she is was his former victim (hence the whole reason he approached the two himself)? What if she immediately recalled the events as they actually happened? She might not finger his present self, but she would know the truth, the dots would be easy to connect, and the whole plot would be thrown off.While there may have been subtle clues dropped as to the actual reincarnation identities beforehand, the whole switcheroo came off to me as a late-breaking addition, and regardless, it ultimately led nowhere. It did not impact the outcome at all and basically seemed to be an excuse to get Robin William's character in another scene. Whoever was who in the past, Franklyn was still the antagonist. And as for the memories, if Grace was actually Roman, then why was she having nightmares of being stabbed in the throat with scissors? Why was she unable to speak at the beginning of the movie, and petrified of letting people into her bedrooms when she slept? Not every dream sequence of hers fell into this category (e.g. only Roman could remember the walk to the electric chair); they're just jumbled up (why would Grace remember rebuking Inga?). To maintain suspension of belief, I need some semblance of internal consistency.Speaking of Robin William's character, at first Dr. Carlisle implies that these sorts of past lives are rare, or at least, it is rare to uncover them in hypnosis (or was rare for him to anyway). Yet, later on, he seems to be an expert in the matter, explaining how gender swapping reincarnations happen all the time.Mike brought Grace the anklet he recovered from Franklyn's store, and that became a symbol to her of the truth of their identities. But wouldn't the anklet have more of an emotional impact on Mike, seeing as how he was the one who was actually Margaret?Some lesser plot holes, which are common movie tropes, but (a) I expect better from a director of Branaugh's caliber (even in 1991), and (b) they reach a crescendo right at the climax, making it more of a farce to me than a drama:How is it that Mike was shot, unconscious, non-responsive and near death one moment, and the next he is not only alert, but able to engage in hand-to-hand combat with Franklyn?Why the hell was Newman delivering a pizza to Grace's apartment in the middle of the night, when earlier it was clear she wasn't expecting anyone? Maybe I missed something there, but that just seemed so random, I didn't know whether to laugh or shout at the screen (I did both).The climactic, slow-motion, emotional showdown was just silly.All in all, I think if the movie were presented as a dramedy, it could have sold me. But it took itself far too seriously despite the numerous "what the?!" moments. Somebody should have switched gears in editing.