One day man will look back and say that I gave birth to the Absinthe Revival ....

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2006)

London, 1888.
Jack the Ripper.
In the streets of White Chapel, there's the working classes, filth, grime, dirt, drunks, and prostitutes. The movie focuses in on a group of prostitutes. Heather Graham is Mary Kelly, a member of the group and the Ripper's last victim. Another one of them, Anne, has happily gotten out of the life by marrying a wealthy artist and having a child together. Her perfect life is shattered when strange men burst in (during the middle of a very steamy sex scene) and separate her from her husband and child. They disappear. Anne is diagnosed with dementia and is treated (a.k.a - 3 holes are hammered into her skull).
From then all, the remaining girls are killed off one by one (by the Ripper of course). Inspector Abberline (Johnny Depp) investigates the murders as they occur. His opening scene is one in which he is having one of his "visions" while "chasing the dragon" (smoking opium) in an opium den. He "sees" the murders before or as they're occurring. Of course we all know of the Ripper, however, the movie is from the perspective that everything that happened, is happening as we watch. We are a part of Victorian London.
Jack the Ripper is one of those mysteries. Numerous documentaries and movies have been made on the subject and various theories and conspiracies have been created, because of the lack of a information and a resolution. This movie resides happily within those folds. Just like the real investigation, the movie naturally has holes in it. It fills those hole with atmosphere and style. The murders are very graphics and gets progressively more graphic as the movie wears on. The mood is dark. London is in a perpetual coal fog and everything is black, brown, gray or covered with soot. Color is a sparse commodity, but when it shows is strangely captivating (mainly in the volume of fake blood used).
I will not get into the various elements that make for an intriguing mystery as this might ruin the plot and the fun. There is romantic connection between Mary Kelly and Abberline, but it is subtle and is cut short by the plot. There is definitely a class struggle, but that is evident from Dickens and the period.
This movie has always stood out in my mind because of its style and atmosphere. I didn't find it scary but at the same time I never feel quite comfortable. It is like your leg starting to fall asleep, yet you are unable to do anything about it. Abberline's ritualistic smoking of opium and his bathtub Absinthe preparation are classic. I can safely say Johnny Depp taught me about and how to drink Absinthe. All in all, this is an intriguing movie worthy of at least a rental.