Rating: ***
Review Date: 2/3/02
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia, Derek Jacobi, Robin Williams
Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson play reincarnated lovers who are destined by fate to relive their tragic past, and to say any more would spoil the impact of this scary thriller. The story is tight and intelligent, but the execution seems to be soaked with a certain amount of 1980's cheesiness (punctuated by Ms. Thompson's extremely unflattering hairdo). The unnecessary comedic quirks are awkward and ill-timed, and seem like a desperate attempt by Branagh to lighten the tone of the film. A well made, well written, and well acted film, except that I found Branagh's performance annoying and unconvincing, both as Mike Church and as Roman Strauss. Unfortunate. Even so, it doesn't particularly spoil the suspense and tension that builds throughout the course of the film as the karmic credit plan goes to work.