Lightyear Entertainment // 2007 // 95 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge David Johnson // July 8th, 2008
Fear the monster within.
No thanks.
The latest take on the emaciated Jekyll and Hyde storyline stars Matt Keeslar as the titular doctor whose research allows the good doctor to access the deep recesses of his psyche and bring the malignant, horny creature that is Mr. Hyde into reality. Despite the attempted intervention from his fellow doctor and BFF (Jonathan Silverman, Weekend at Bernie's), Jekyll quickly loses control of Hyde, who proceeds to start bar-fights, harass strippers, coerce hapless girls into threesomes and wear a cape.
Soon, this dangerous experiment will affect everyone in Jekyll's otherwise normal orbit, including his friends, his fiancée, her powerful father, bouncers and, ultimately, the local law enforcement.
Wow, this one's bad. Jekyll does little to sharpen the well-established and -- dare I say it -- bled-dry Jekyll and Hyde mystique and an argument can be made that it so dilutes the story that it would take a Scorcese-helmed $150 million mega-project to rehab the brand.
How does it go so wrong? Let us count the ways:
Hyde 360
Instead of developing chemicals or getting blasted
with gamma rays or having a genetically modified insect biting his neck, Dr.
Jekyll develops the goofiest mechanism yet to bring forth the savage Mr. Hyde --
a video game. That's right, the key to unlocking the mysteries of the human mind
lies within a gaming rig with a kick-ass Nvidia graphics card. Dr. Jekyll
constructs an avatar (nerd-speak for fake computer game persona) and when he
sticks two diodes into his eye sockets and presses PLAY his cyberspace creation
infiltrates his head and unleashes Hyde. So that's the key to turning into a
crazy id-driven psychopath, firing up your console of choice and impaling your
eyes with a Wiimote.
Cape and Sideburns
Once Hyde enters the scene, it's easy to
tell: see, Dr. Jekyll, who looks normal, suddenly pops into two Arctic Blue
contact lenses, dyes his hair black, slicks it back with industrial strength
adhesive, magically grows some huge-ass sideburns, squeezes into genital-hugging
leather pants and puts on a cape. Needless to say we're supposed to be awestruck
by this galloping creature of masculinity and awesomeness, but the guy looks
like a sixth-place finish in a Count of Monte Cristo look-alike contest.
Orgy!
Consumed with an unchecked libido and enslaved to his
impulses and apparently boasting twice the strength of a normal man, Hyde makes
his presence known through talking dirty to strippers, punching bartenders in
the face, dancing around the strip pole smacking guys on the head with his cane
(bad-ass!), and engaging in a threesome. All of that sounds pretty hardcore, I
know, but all eroticism/violence/tomfoolery was effectively nullified by Matt
Keeslar's gobsmackingly overwrought performance. His Hyde (heh) likes to talk in
sweeping, accent-tinged poetic nonsense that comes across a good five notches
below small-town New Hampshire community theatre. Just brutal.
Jonathan Silverman
Sorry, I just can't forgive him for The
Single Guy. Man, that show sucked.
The disc: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and 2.0 stereo that perform as well as they need to, though the sound work in general for the film is amateur hour (can someone eliminate the freeway noise?), a commentary track and a making-of featurette.
Jekyll should earn some belly laughs. The fact that it's not a comedy could be a problem.
Guilty. Let's all hope Jekyll's computer gets the Red Ring of Death.
Review content copyright © 2008 David Johnson; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2008 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Video: 80
Audio: 75
Extras: 80
Acting: 50
Story: 50
Judgment: 52
Perp Profile
Studio: Lightyear Entertainment
Video Formats:
* 1.85:1 Anamorphic
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (English)
Subtitles:
* None
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Release Year: 2007
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* Commentary
* Featurette
Accomplices
* IMDb
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0393394/combined