DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE THE ROCK ’N ROLL MUSICAL (2003) is a contemporary retelling (though Jekyll wears a Victorian cape and top hat in one scene) that I found completely forgettable, including the score. The 1932 Fredric March version is never boring; this one gives Jekyll a bland romance, bland friendships, no tension (even his scientific research is placid) and things like the female lead singing love ballads that aren’t good, don’t advance the plot and don’t develop her character beyond what we know. The only noteworthy point for me is that Hyde seduces one of Jekyll’s patients, making this one of the few cases where Hyde isn’t all about sex workers (though he hits on one of them too). This makes the Kirk Douglas musical look good. “I don’t know what I’m after/But somewhere hidden deep inside/I seem to hear an evil laughter/And its name is Edward Hyde.”
Adapted from the Alan Moore/Kevin O’Neill comic, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (2003) has British intelligence’s M recruit hunter Alan Quatermain (Sean Connery), vampire Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) and others to fight a scheme to plunge the early 20th century into war. The first recruits go after Hyde in Paris, capture him and recruit him with the offer of a pardon that will let him return to England.
While this is a fun, though not a great adaptation, the role of Jekyll and Hyde (Jason Flemyng) is closer to the Hulk than Stevenson or Moore. I have some reservations about Moore’s handling of the gruesome twosome — I’ll get into those another time — but his Hyde is indeed a monster, though a well-mannered one. Here, after the League stops his killing spree in the Rue Morgue, Hyde shows no particular inclination to evil. Okay, he expresses an obviously unhealthy interest in Mina to Jekyll but that ain’t much. That said, this is one of the few “monster mash” movies where Hyde’s role is big enough to stay out of the appendix. “You’re probably too young to know that the Empire is always in some kind of peril.”
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