Very well executed

Better than most people think

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

A serial killer in Los Angeles celebrates Jack the Ripper's 100th anniversary by committing similar murders.My first thought was how strange this film was for starting when there was only one murder left. It seems like it would make more sense to start at the first murder and allow the characters to solve the mystery of the pattern. Instead, they know from the opening scene that the killer is following the pattern of Jack the Ripper. This takes out much of the mystery element...The cast here is pretty great, with both James Spader and Robert Picardo, both (I think) before becoming bigger names. Spader always had that boy next door charm, and Picardo is interesting and plays his role as a psychiatrist well, coming off as very suspicious at all the right moments.The New York Times said "is so dull it leaves you plenty of time to marvel at how a plot can be this rickety, how a production can look this shabby, and how the first-time writer and director Rowdy Herrington could borrow a story with so relentless a grip on our imaginations and in no time at all declaw it." This seems terribly harsh. While not the greatest movie, it is still much better than many films out there, and had a premise that was enough to carry it.I watched this film on Netflix, and I am told this version is different from the one on VHS or that was shown in theaters. I would be curious to know the differences, as I am told they are big enough to completely change the plot of the film... I liked the version I saw, but maybe the other is even better?

Warning: minor spoilersJames Spader is such a fine actor that he can make even dreck fairly watchable. This film starts out well, especially if you do not know going into it that Spader plays two roles. The surprise death of the heretofore main character ten or fifteen minutes in is an effective shocker. But much of the plot of this film is poor. A viewer would have to be heavily sedated not to realize who the killer is during the first third of the film -- he is such a cliché that all he is missing is a handlebar mustache to twirl, and the actor playing him does everything but hold up a sign saying "I'm an evil psychopath! Watch me!" Plus, his behavior in the final part of the movie is completely inexplicable. He isn't copying Jack the Ripper anymore, his intended victim isn't a prostitute, he has apparently gotten away with his crimes because someone else is under arrest and that person is guilty of at least one murder -- why do what he does? Oh, so we can have a final confrontation and end the film!However, "Jack's Back" is somewhat redeemed by Spader, who makes the twins distinct characters without overplaying their differences. Clearly the movie's director didn't realize how good Spader was, because he insists on giving "Rick" a scar and a radically different hairstyle, which are completely unnecessary (especially since the two characters' roles in the film do not overlap). As Rick, the comparatively ne'er-do-well twin (the main role), Spader projects a fair degree of complexity and does so in subtle ways. Watch the scene in which he goes into his brother's house, looks at books, photos, and then the unmade bed. Spader has no dialogue here, and doesn't overdo it -- no tears, no punching the wall, no bitter turning away -- but the play of emotions across his face is brilliant and tells us everything we need to know about their relationship. That's great acting.Besides the awful villain, other cast member are uneven. Cynthia Gibb is fine, Robert Picardo convincing as a smarter than average psychiatrist working with the police, and the always reliable Chris Mulkey (one of those "oh yeah, that guy!" actors) plays his usual slightly dense and harmlessly (if cluelessly) lecherous cop. But Wendell Wright badly overplays the police captain who repeatedly leaps to the wrong conclusions.Otherwise, the film suffers from being obviously of its era, the late '80's.Thus the music is really bad, especially for a suspense film, and they give us the wretched theme song ("Red Harvest" whatever that means, by Paul Saax, whoever that was) over both the beginning and ending credits. The clothes are accurate for the time, but it was not a good era fashion-wise. The hairstyles look especially silly, with poor Spader having to wear a swept across 'do that looks like he just missed the final cut when auditioning for a "Flock of Seagulls" tribute band, and the otherwise lovely Gibb is trapped in a late '80's gal-mullet. Saucony shoes apparently paid for product placement. Even the opening credits look cheap and generic.All in all, a mediocre film that starts out as if it will be much better but falls apart in the final reel, and that is only worth watching as part of a James Spader film festival.** 1/2

This pretty insipid horror film let's you know you're in trouble pretty quickly with bad '80s pop playing over the opening credits - wow, now there's a way to suggest coming menace - and continues to purvey its absurd plot featuring obviously telegraphed, stupid twists that Brian de Palma or Dario Argento might have made something foolishly entertaining, but which Rowdy Herrington essays with all the inspiration of an infomercial. It's ridiculous to see Spader play identical twins, one of whom is a medical student and the other, who has no physical differences whatsoever in his matchstick frame, who's supposed to have been a member of a tough gang, been through the army and prison, and in the course of the film beats up a guy twice his size. The only redeeming feature is indeed in the net being drawn around the wayside hero in trying to clear his brother and avoid arrest himself, so you kind of wanted him to win out, but basically when finished I felt I had wasted a chunk of my life.

As said before it was James Spader that carried this movie. Without him this would have been a straight to video movie, which it wasn't. SPOILERS My only nitpick is that they shouldv'e had him work out and buff up for the part since he was going to have to take on a psycho path that was built like a dump truck. But other than that this was a good movie.