I don't understand my own review

Rating: 5/10 (23 July 2010)

Starring: Johnny Depp (it's safe to assume that after 2010 or so all major films will star Johnny Depp and Jude Law), Robbie Coltrane, Ian Holm and Heather Graham.
This film is probably more entertaining if you only have a slight interest in Jack the Ripper. Anyone who has read at least one recent JtR related book will have to many problems with the plot and setup of this film to really enjoy the mood, violence, and STUPID MTV STYLE Camera-work. Johnny Depp is an opium smoking drink/drunk copper with a Robbie Coltrane sidekick out to kick the Ripper's a**, but his superiors don't really care about who is killing the hookers of Whitechapel. Thankfully Johnny does, but he takes a long time in tracking down the killer, and by that time everyone is dead anyway (kind of)...in fact he doesn't really catch the killer either. My problem is that there are too many liberties taken with the actual story. For a start, all the prostitutes know each other. They are all pals. Yep - all the victims are pals, and therefore in being together provide the killer with a motive for doing them all in. Think masonic rituals and Prince Albert and illegitimate children and such like. (AND - what happened to the child's mother? She didn't get knifed. And to be honest the hookers really didn't have a clue what was going on and therefore didn't really have to die) Another quibble - These days it's reckoned that the killer was that American fella and not the royal surgeon fella, but in this film it is the royal surgeon fella, who is a mason and hired to kill the prozzies (all that crap above about children and such like)... It's like they decided to tweak the story and ended up getting too carried away. We get a love story between Mary Kelly (Graham -who has got red hair just in case we don't she's meant to be Irish or something) and Depp. Kelly doesn't even get killed apparentley - it some other chick (err so that's meant to be okay). And Depp dies. Can't remember any of that happening even in the wildest books about the Whitechapel Murders. The film is enjoyable if you don't sit taking pot shots at it, but does tend to go a bit mad in the old cinematography department (flashing lights, split second shots and such like). The last murder is rather gory (not as bad as it really was though...urgh), Depp and Holm are good, but it's just too far fetched for my liking.
Average.