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.

I agree with the guy a few reviews ago that pointed out all the plot holes (quite a few of which I didn't notice).It's just TOO unbelievable. You try to suspend disbelief just to have fun but couldn't do it.The ending was incredibly silly. The twists seemed pointless. The acting was very good all around, though. It DID hold my attention until the very end, which is a plus. Once it was over I felt like I wasted my time.If you want a good mystery with great twists, watch Wild Things. The first twist in THAT movie was a shock! This movie, the twists were like, yeah, OK, why??

This film tells the story of a private detective who enlists the help of a hypnotist to help a woman who suffers from amnesia.The title "Dead Again" gives the plot away a bit, but there is still a lot of suspense and thrill in the plot. Emma Thompson is great as an amnesic woman, she looks genuinely distressed by her amnesia, while looking completely different when under hypnosis. It is a little confusing to have Emma Thompson in both the past and the present. The presence of Robin Williams is a nice surprise, and reminds me of the other film "Shrink" in which he also plays a psychiatrist. The ending has another twist which is unpredictable, and keeps the film entertaining.

Dead Again is one of the best films of the 1990s. It is a psychological thriller that will require your full attention. This includes the opening credits which provide critical background information. In the opening credits, you see old newspaper clippings from 1949 about the shocking death of pianist Margaret Strauss (Emma Thompson). Based on the clippings, we learn that Margaret's husband, conductor-composer Robert Strauss (Kenneth Branagh) claims a thief killed Margaret but he is later arrested for the crime after his fingerprints are found on a pair of scissors. Testimony from witnesses as well as his refusal to testify results in a guilty verdict and Strauss gets the death penalty. Most of the newspaper articles were written by Gray Baker (Andy Garcia) who visits Strauss at his request on the day of his execution. Strauss asks Baker to print that "He loved his wife and that he will love her forever" while getting his hair sheard with scissors by one of the guards. Baker asks Strauss why he is not afraid of death and Strauss states that he is not because things are "far from over". When Baker states, "But you still killed her, didn't you?", Strauss gets up and whispers something in his ear. Strauss is then escorted down the hallway to the death chamber. As Baker gets up to leave, he looks at the newspaper that was next to Strauss and notices the scissors that the guard had laid down are missing. We then see the scissors in Strauss's hand as Baker runs down the hallway yelling "stop" to Strauss. At the end of the hallway is a vision of Margaret Strauss and then we see Robert Strauss reach out and begin to stab her. We're instantly snapped forward into color (from black and white) and a modern day Emma Thompson awakes from her nightmare where she appears to live on the same property as where the Strauss' used to live. Now all of this happens during the first five minutes of the movie and if you're not hooked, then something's really wrong! The film goes back and forth between the past (always shown in black and white) and current day (shown in color). Suspicions abound as we piece together details from past lives and how they relate to the current characters. In doing so, we are left on the edge of our seats as new facts and twists are revealed.This is a "thinking person's movie" with a load of originality. If you like Hitchcock movies or you find films like the Matrix and Inception to be thrilling because of the twists and/or strong focus you must have while watching, you'll appreciate this film.