Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2008/Genius DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Film: D

 

 

Paolo Barzman’s interpretation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, shortened down significantly as most interpretations often are, is one that ultimately doesn’t work but creates an interesting duality of stories.  Sort of.

 

The film takes place in modern day Baltimore in which Dr. Henry Jekyll (Dougray Scott) is off experimenting with a plant capable of producing a psychotropic personality division.  Upon creating a serum deriving from this flower, as you may have guessed from the ten thousand other versions of this out there, splits his personality in half so that by day he’s Dr. Jekyll and by night he’s the evil, murderous Mr. Edward Hyde.  Throw in a love interest lawyer for his court trial after he turns himself in, and the story finally gets decent.

 

What’s most interesting about this film is that the classic story fails pretty miserably, while the courtroom aspect really pulled the movie together a little more.  The first half of this film is rather boring and looks like it’s going for the Saw feel more than the psychological thriller aspect.  When the courtroom drama picks up, it’s well written and visually works much better than its bastard cousin of a first half.  However, the end result is not something necessarily worth sitting through the whole movie for.

 

The film is presented in an anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks average, and the sound is presented in a Dolby 5.1 surround where nothing all that interesting takes place either.  This was originally a made for TV movie and the transfer pretty much reflects that fact.

 

The special features are minimal on this; the only one is actually A Man of Many Faces: An Interview with Dougray Scott.  However, if anyone that’s actually watched the feature presented here has the drive to go on to that, more power to you.  It’s 16 minutes long and it’s just Mr. Scott talking about himself.

 

If you were stuck on a desert island with nothing but this movie and a TV to watch it on, I wouldn’t envy you, but I wouldn’t pity you either.  This film is entirely forgettable, so much to the point that I forgot about it for quite some time.  Don’t even spend the money on a rental – if it’s ever on TV again, catch it there while doing your laundry, or something else that’s more interesting than this.

 

 

-   Jordan Paley