Cheap knockoff, an insult to Depp's talent

Rating: 1/10 (24 June 2002)

I'll watch anything with Depp or Ian Richardson, which is how I got skinned on this PPV rental. For God's sake, do NOT spend money on this sad little ripoff of Murder by Decree -- but with far less talent and entertainment.
The plot was "new" 20 years ago but thoroughly discredited long ago as being too silly for words. Even Depp's great Cockney acccent was completely out of character for a Scotland Yard inspector, but the portrayal of one pinup-quality whore amongst a thousand utter dogs was just annoying...as was her accent and acting. The storyline was erratic (even where it made sense), and the so-called "mystery" was obvious early on. The errors or misrepresentations about the Ripper murders were phenomenal, and only someone totally ignorant of the case could get sucked in at all.

Depp is one of the most talented actors around, but even he can be grossly miscast in awful movies ("Blow" coming to mind immediately). One suspected his heart was not really in this hotly steaming turd and he just went through the paces playing the exact same role as he did in "Sleepy Hollow," which, though it also had a tired old plot, still turned into a great movie.
There are several interesting (and even believable) speculations on the Ripper murders, and of course most scholars have a pretty good idea who it probably was (hint: it wasn't a doctor, a royal prince or a Freemason). Surely we could have been given an interesting premise that didn't have just class prejudice going for it.
This really did suck. If you haven't seen "Murder by Decree," go rent it, skip this dog and actually get entertained. This one just blows.