A great adaptation/depiction of events, which needs to be seen more than once!

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2002)

I have to admit, from the outset, I found it very hard to adjust to this film's rhythm and style, but after a good half hour I was settled and in for a great ride. The Hughes brothers have created a very dark, bleak, infested London here. It is shockingly realistic.
Almost immediately, the film offers many suspects as to who the real Jack the Ripper might be. Not trying to sound clever here, but, I knew who the killer was very early on, as I also believe, after many conversations with people, that Jack the Ripper was indeed who this film makes him out to be! And the motive? Ah, the motive is pure gold! I hadn't thought of it like that before, but my God, it makes every bit of sense!
London looks like some kind of ghetto here, and the mood is set for a thriller that will indeed shock many of it's viewers. The brothers do very well not to completely step into the 'slasher' genre - thank God! But the murders, or what we see of them , are very realistic.
Johnny Depp, always a favourite actor of mine, does well in his role as a detective who is fighting, well not really, coming to terms with really, his addiction to opium. Poor sod. As far as performance goes, he is solid, but his accent does, at times, waver between cockney and Australian, but he stays with it, and we believe his performance. Heather Graham on the other hand, is slightly less convincing as Mary Kelly, one of the five prostitutes who have information that is worth their lives. Irish is she? Whatever you say guv'nor. Beautiful though!
The story, if your not concentrating, is kinda complex. You don't need a degree in Ripperology to 'get' this film though, it's a stand alone depiction of one of many theories that surround the Ripper murders. It's gruesome to think that this actually went on.
At one point though, I was so caught up in the film, that I forgot the theory that I had clutched to throughout and created a new one to coincide with the film's narrative...Johnny Depp's 'visions' might not have been visions, it could have been him that committed the murders, in an opium induced state. At the time it made sense, and it still does now, it was a 'Fight Club' type twist that I had conceived. Interesting though!
The supporting cast are great, Ian Holm and Robbie Coltrane do remarkably well in their roles respectively.
The ending is welcome. It makes a change from the Hollywood ending's that are churned out nowadays.
This film didn't live upto my expectations though, but it didn't dissapoint on the whole.
7/10
Enjoy!