Review of Dead Again (1991) by Ben L — 19 Mar 2017

The concept of a murder mystery that carries over into the next life is unique and kind of fun. The mystery was written well enough that it had me guessing almost to the end of the film. I liked that they used black-and-white to differentiate the past from the present, it made those transitions fluid. The two lead performances were entertaining, particularly because we got to see both British accent and American accent versions of Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. Robin Williams was a bit underused, but I guess I should be grateful we got as much of him as we did, since his character was totally pointless to the story.

The big flaw with Dead Again is that there is almost no logic to this whole reincarnation thing. I thought they were setting it up that the anklet was what brought the magic to keep the lovers together, but I never felt like they made that true because everyone talked as if this happened all the time. In fact the point of the anklet itself was completely lost on me, even though they treated it like some vital token. And why would they be reincarnated in bodies that are identical but *spoilers* identical to the other person?! I'm not sure whether I'm being too picky, or these were actual problems, but for some reason I wasn't buying into it.

There were some elements in Dead Again where I questioned the tone. It seemed as though they were taking everything dead seriously, but then there were moments where things seemed so off-the-wall that I had to chuckle. The biggest was when they walked into the art studio with all the ridiculous scissor art. The entire film so aggressively clung to its themes in this way, that it was kind of comical. I didn't hate the movie, in fact I kind of liked aspects of it. I'm usually pretty forgiving of mystery films anyways. That being said, I still didn't think the plot of Dead Again worked all that well, and I doubt I'll be seeking it out for a rewatch in the future.