Review by Peter Syslo
JEKYLL + HYDE (2006) , like other recent films that I have seen, has a great premise and a pretty cool opening but then it just loses its steam and it loses the viewer. This film is based upon the original Arthur Conan Doyle story and it does have some good qualities to it, but it certainly wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped it would be. On the plus side, the movie is very stylishly done, the acting is decent, and the music is a pretty good fit. However, the good and bad of the film sort of cancel each other out and the result is something that is “middle-of-the-road”.
J+H stars Bryan Fisher and Bree Turner. The story focuses on a group of medical students, specifically one named Jekyll. He is conducting research on the personality effects of a derivative of the drug Ecstasy, of which his professor does not necessarily approve. Jekyll is sort of a socially awkward guy and as predicted, he experiments on himself, with the drug. When he takes it, he apparently becomes a charming, alpha-male kind of character (although it is tough to tell, the actor didn’t play Jekyll and Hyde much differently) who murders the people he encounters. However, Jekyll “blacks out” when he becomes Hyde and he has a tough time remembering his actions. As Jekyll tries to understand what is happening to him, he becomes addicted to the drug and puts everyone in danger, including his love interest (Turner).
First off, let me speak to the negative aspects. As I mentioned, the Jekyll and Hyde really did not seem that different to me and to make matters worse, you just learn of the murders off camera. You catch a few scenes of Hyde enticing his female victims but you don’t really get a sense of impending danger from him. There needed to be more of an exaggeration to differentiate the two characters – something more like Christian Bale’s performance in AMERICAN PSYCHO or Willem Dafoe’s in SPIDERMAN. Speaking of the murders, you see two scenes with a gun, but other than that you really don’t see much psychotic behavior – it was much too dramatized, it needed more ferocity. Also, the story is told with flashbacks which often cut back to the present scenes and it does get a little confusing. I think that one part of the film went back two weeks, then jumped to present and then that took place two nights before one of the first scenes in the film…and so on. It just got too convoluted at points and I started to lose interest.
On the other hand, one of the positive aspects of the film was the stylistic element. I liked the direction, the camerawork, and the editing – very stylish, and it was similar to the style of LESS THAN ZERO. It had a “grand” sort of feeling to it and there was decent acting all around to bring things up a notch. Also, the music fit really well and actually made some of the scenes, I thought. I forget the artist’s name, but his music sounded a lot like Radiohead – it had that complex, emotional sound to it.
Cutting to the chase: J+H wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. It needed more bite to its bark and the “jumpy” storyline should have had more focus on just one time period. If you like the original story, MARY REILLY, or something like FLATLINERS, then you may be interested in it. I give it a 5 out of 10.