I think most of the reviewers on this site must have seen a different film to me as this is just a lame film noir tarted up with the odd mention of Hawksmoor and Crowley (mispronounced in the film). The Alan Moore/"From Hell" comparisons are totally unjustified, except in the rather simplistic thinks-it's-much-clever-than-it-is ending.
The film is far too dark - almost everything is shot in red and black - the characters are dull and the story predictable. I had high hopes for this as a genuinely uneasy and different Brit flick (hell - just give me anything that doesn't have gangsters) but all the occult stuff is just window-dressing for what's actually a very straightforward film. Yes, it apes the mise-en-scene of "From Hell" - dabbles with its themes of cyclic time - and even has a lead character who could be Constantine from the "Hellblazer" comics - but it has none of the sophistication of Alan Moore's writing. Like I say, it wasn't lousy; it just wasn't a patch on how it had been advertised...
The film is far too dark - almost everything is shot in red and black - the characters are dull and the story predictable. I had high hopes for this as a genuinely uneasy and different Brit flick (hell - just give me anything that doesn't have gangsters) but all the occult stuff is just window-dressing for what's actually a very straightforward film. Yes, it apes the mise-en-scene of "From Hell" - dabbles with its themes of cyclic time - and even has a lead character who could be Constantine from the "Hellblazer" comics - but it has none of the sophistication of Alan Moore's writing. Like I say, it wasn't lousy; it just wasn't a patch on how it had been advertised...