"Dead Again" is only Kenneth Branagh's second film, after his rousing (and Oscar-nominated) success with "Henry V." And while the material is hardly on the same level, it hasn't left director-star Branagh any less ambitious.
On the downside, "Dead Again" is utterly preposterous and too frequently opens very wide plot holes it has no intention of closing. Yet it's also one of the most spectacularly entertaining films of the summer.
Think Hitchcock here, which is obviously what Branagh did when he read the screenplay by Scott Frank. Branagh's direction echoes Hitch at every turn, and while it's not quite up to the level of the Master of Suspense, it's very enjoyable on its own level.
"Dead Again" begins with a bang, introducing characters and a thick plot under the opening credits, then rolling into a nightmarish black-and-white murder sequence . . . which actually is a nightmare. Emma Thompson (Branagh's real-life wife and co-star in "Henry V") plays the amnesiac woman who has this dream and awakens screaming night after night. Enter L.A. private eye Mike Church (Branagh), who specializes in missing people. He dubs her Grace.
The plot thickens when a local antique dealer (Derek Jacobi, who was also in "Henry V") suggests hypnotizing Grace to try and probe her memory. Once under hypnosis, however, she appears to be revealing who she once was instead of who she is.
In these black-and-white flashbacks we learn about Roman and Margaret Strauss (also played by Branagh and Thompson), a European composer and his concert pianist wife. She was murdered, stabbed to death with a pair of scissors, apparently by her husband. But did he do it? And if he did, will Mike and Grace, in their reincarnated selves, relive the tragic events?
Those are just some of the questions raised here, and the plot is every bit as convoluted as it sounds. But Branagh is nothing if not a directorial stylist and he embellishes the story at every opportunity with his technique — wild camera angles, shadows and light, a roving eye and scenes that are supposed to seem improvisational.
Some of this works very well but some just seems needlessly showy, and every now and then a scene is too arch. And there are moments, especially in the climactic brawl, when you wish he's just settle down and go with the narrative flow.
Hitchcock's technique was different, but always in service of the story. Branagh could use some self-control, though he's not as heavy-handed as, say, Brian De Palma, who established his career ripping off Hitchcock.
Despite that, there are many great joys here, not the least of which is the way Branagh captured an old-movie look in the black-and-white scenes.
He has also wonderfully cast every role, which is good since some seem underwritten. Derek Jacobi makes the best of a particularly juicy part as the antique dealer, as does unbilled Robin Williams as a former psychiatrist who's been reduced to stocking grocery shelves. Hanna Schygulla, as the mysterious maid, and Andy Garcia, as a reporter infatuated with Margaret, are good, but both get the short-shrift. Branagh and Thompson play their respective roles well also, though we never really get to know them.
Branagh's debut with "Henry V" was a tough act to follow, of course, so good that it might cause us to expect too much. Suffice it to say that if "Dead Again" is not a great film, it's certainly one wildly entertaining ride.
It is rated R for violence, profanity and some vulgar comments by Williams' character.