Dead Again

Name: Dead Again
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Released: August 23, 1991
Duration: 107 min
Rating: 66
Cast: Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh

1991

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 54 Ratings

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8.9

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8.9	User Score Universal acclaim based on 54 Ratings

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Dead Again

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Movie Details & Credits

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: August 23, 1991 | R

Starring: Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh

Summary: Mike Church (Branagh) is an L.A. gumshoe with a knack for tossing off wisecracks and tracking down missing persons. But Church doesn't have a clue when he's hired to help a beautiful amnesia victim (Thompson) tormented by bloodcurdling nightmares. Then an eccentric antiques dealer and hypnotist (Derek Jacobi) leads Church to a startlingMike Church (Branagh) is an L.A. gumshoe with a knack for tossing off wisecracks and tracking down missing persons. But Church doesn't have a clue when he's hired to help a beautiful amnesia victim (Thompson) tormented by bloodcurdling nightmares. Then an eccentric antiques dealer and hypnotist (Derek Jacobi) leads Church to a startling discovery: The source of the nightmares may lie in a past-life connection to Margaret Strauss, a world-famous pianist allegedly murdered by her composer-husband Roman... in 1948. (Paramount)… Expand

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 107 min

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Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

James Berardinelli

Dead Again does not come across as a Hitchcock knock-off, but as a motion picture that incorporates familiar themes and approaches while maintaining its own integrity and identity. Not once during the entire production is there an obviously stolen scene or camera angle replication. Read full review

100

Edward Guthmann

Deliciously witty and entertaining… A first-rate thriller, one that's likely to generate as much word-of-mouth as “Alien,'' “Carrie'' and “Psycho'' did in their time. [23 Aug 1991, Daily Notebook, p.F1]

Kenneth Turan

Branagh has mastered the tricky high-wire act of simultaneously kidding the conventions he is being absolutely faithful to, allowing us to squeal with both fright and knowing laughter. His is a film lover's film [23 Aug 1991, Calendar, p.F1]

Rick Groen

The cinematic equivalent of a "good read" - pick it up and you can't put it down; put it down and it's gone forever. Read full review

Steve Davis

Hopelessly muddled but doggedly entertaining. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Emerges as cutty, indistinct and confused, full of shots that don't match and spatial conceptions that would look flat even on TV. The more Branagh strains to appear “cinematic,'' the more he looks like a man of the theater. [23 Aug 1991, Friday, p.B]

Peter Travers

A two-hour search for a pulse... A miscalculation from a prodigious talent who has forgotten that you squeeze the life out of romance when you don't give it space to breathe. Read full review

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User Reviews

Compi24

Apr 21, 2016

"Dead Again," finds actor/director extraordinaire Kenneth Branagh venturing from the world of Shakespeare into the dark, musty corners of the Hitchcockian noir - and with great success. "Dead Again" is a well-structured and engaging mystery with stellar camerawork and some truly magnetic"Dead Again," finds actor/director extraordinaire Kenneth Branagh venturing from the world of Shakespeare into the dark, musty corners of the Hitchcockian noir - and with great success. "Dead Again" is a well-structured and engaging mystery with stellar camerawork and some truly magnetic chemistry between the actors involved. Add a dash of cheese and a surprisingly badass Robin Williams cameo and you have the makings of a truly memorable cinematic experience.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

juliankennedy23

Jul 18, 2014

Dead Again: 5 out of 10: On-screen chemistry is a funny thing. Some couples simply have it. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan make a cute believable couple; William Powell and Myrna Loy in their fourteen films together are in my mind the silvers screens best pairing.

On the other hand, KennethDead Again: 5 out of 10: On-screen chemistry is a funny thing. Some couples simply have it. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan make a cute believable couple; William Powell and Myrna Loy in their fourteen films together are in my mind the silvers screens best pairing.

On the other hand, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson have no on screen chemistry whatsoever. One might say despite the fact they were married, yet I would argue that too often whatever chemistry causes an off-screen couple to hook-up simply does not translate to the movies. In fact in many cases it seems to create a negative chemistry on screen. (Think Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.) Since Dead Again is at its heart a love story, the lack of chemistry is deadly. Branagh and Thompson play two couples. The first, filmed in beautiful black and white, are an angry World War 2 refugee and opera composer and his murdered wife. He goes to the chair for her murder and we flash forward to Branagh as a missing persons detective and Thompson as a crazy mute lady with amnesia. They may be connected to the previous couple and both stories are told alternately throughout the film.

The film itself (in particular the black and white flashbacks) is gorgeous, yet Branagh as a director plays too many tricks for his own good. He cribs so liberally from Hitchcock that the film threatens to turn into High Anxiety 2 rather than an original work.

Without the chemistry between the leads we are left with little more than a hundred film school in-jokes and a strange sci-fi mystical story that we simply have no stake in.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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