Okay

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2002)

Gothic trappings and dreamy visuals try desperately to cover the stench of exploitation in this violent, speculative retelling of the Jack the Ripper incidents. Johnny Depp, who plays the clairvoyant detective on the trail of the murderer, is a wonderfully intuitive actor but has always lacked a certain screen presence/charisma, an attribute that works in his favor in films like Dead Man or Nick of Time but detracts from performances in, say, Blow from last year, films where we need to believe he has the magnetism and deep motivations the script is telling us he has. His ethereality, for lack of a better word, is a mixed bag here, as the murders and intrigue behind the killer's identity far overshadow and out-interest whatever internal conflicts the Depp character carries. On the plus side, the love story, between him and a potentially doomed prostitute(Heather Graham) makes sense and adds needed poignancy to balance out the carnage the directors(Hughes Brothers) are so eager to wallow in. The murders are inventively, brutally shot, and as the camera lingers unsympathetically on the grisly aftermaths the connection is eloquently, methodically made between the polite economic violence of the London elite and the cold brutality of being on the bottom rung. Nifty piece of work there. The fact that the Hughes are good at what they do(exploitation) doesn't get them a pass but it does lead them into some interesting territory almost in spite of themselves. 8/10