In the follow up to his acclaimed 'Henry V', actor-director Kenneth Branagh trades high culture for low rent thrills, playing an LA detective hired to learn the identity of a mute amnesia victim (Emma Thompson) suffering nightmares of a much publicized murder case from the late 1940s. Is she the reincarnation of the victim? And has her killer also been reincarnated as her detective/lover? The paranormal hook, with the entire cast playing their earlier selves in flashback, adds an entertaining twist to the otherwise cheap but lively whodunit scenario. And Branagh, perhaps wanting to prove himself a real Hollywood filmmaker, doubles the fun by pitching the action and performances to the edge of hysteria. His phony California accent is no more convincing than his broad directorial flourishes (note the use of TV-style close-ups, even in the black and white retro-noir flashbacks), but the film never pretends to be anything more than what it is: silly, sub-Hitchcock fluff for a not quite jaded summertime crowd.
Review of Dead Again
