DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE

Television Movie - 1999 - 99 Minutes

STARRING

ADAM BALDWIN, STEVE BASTONI, ANTHONY WONG, JASON CHONG, KAREN CLICHE, KIRA CLAVELL and CHANG TSENG

WRITTEN BY PETER M. LENKOW

DIRECTED BY COLIN BUDDS

CHARACTER:

DR. HENRY JEKYLL/MR. HYDE

CHARACTERS STORY:

DR. JEKYLL IS ON HIS HONEYMOON WITH HIS WIFE IN HONG KONG WHEN HE IS CAUGHT UP IN A GANGLAND WAR. THE GANG, RUN BY THE MYTHICAL DRAGON, KILLS HIS WIFE AND BADLY INJURES JEKYLL. AFTER BEING RESCUED BY A CHINESE MEDICINE DOCTOR, HE IS HEALED AND GRADUALLY TRAINED TO REALISE HIS DESTINY - TO BECOME THE LEGENDARY WHITE TIGER AND TO FIGHT HIS NEMESIS, THE DRAGON.

THE FILM:

DR. HENRY JEKYLL (ADAM BALDWIN), A YOUNG SURGEON, AND HIS NEW BRIDE TRAVEL TO HONG KONG FOR THEIR HONEYMOON. TRAGICALLY, THE MARRIAGE ENDS IN VIOLENCE, WHEN HIS NEW WIFE IS KILLED IN A MASSIVE EXPLOSION. THEY HAVE BEEN CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A HONG KONG GANG WAR.

DESPERATELY ILL, WITH SERIOUS BURNS, DR. JEKYLL IS RESSURRECTED BY A CHINESE MEDICINE DOCTOR, DR. CHAU. CHANGED IN APPEARANCE, THE GRIEF-STRICKEN JEKYLL LEARNS THAT HE IS BEING SOUGHT BY THE POLICE IN CONNECTION WITH HIS WIFE'S DEATH. FORCED TO CHANGE HIS NAME, HE BURIES HIS FORMER IDENTITY AND HIS THOUGHTS ARE ONLY OF VENGEANCE AGAINST HIS WIFE'S KILLERS.

DRIVEN BY RAGE, HE UNDERGOES EXTENSIVE MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING TO FUEL HIS CRIME FIGHTING ALTER EGO AND AVENGE THE BRUTAL GANGS THAT DOMINATE HONG KONG'S UNDERWORLD.

ULTIMATELY, HE LEARNS THE TRUTH THAT SHOCKS HIM TO THE CORE. ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT CHINESE BOOK OF BEING, HIS ARRIVAL IN HONG KONG WAS PREDESTINED AND HE IS FATED TO BECOME THE LEGENDARY WHITE TIGER, A MYTHICAL CRIME FIGHTER.

THE REVIEWS:

REVIEW FOR AMAZON.COM BY SEAN AXMAKER - "Any connection to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic horror tale is tenuous at best in this action-packed superhero story with dark undertones. Adam Baldwin is San Francisco surgeon Henry Jekyll, whose honeymoon in Hong Kong becomes a nightmare when a triad gang murders his wife and marks him for death. Saved by a mysterious Chinese healer who speaks in fortune cookie clichés, he becomes a kind of hero-in-training (think The Karate Kid and Mr. Miyagi) with a mystic twist: he discovers the herbal formula to release his inner brute and transforms into a demonic-looking Hyde. The colorful mix of cop show, gangster thriller, and mystic martial arts adventure ends on an anticlimactic note, as if this made-for-TV feature was the pilot for a never-launched TV series, but it's an energetic and spirited film that, for all its kooky clichés, remains oddly compelling."

LEAFANS REVIEW:

I'D SAY THIS IS A BELOW-AVERAGE TV MOVIE PILOT, IS SHOULD HAVE EXCELLENT PRODUCTION VALUES CONSIDERING MR. COPPOLA'S INVOLVMENT, BUT I FOUND THIS SADLY LACKING. PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW THE BACKGROUND OF THIS MOVIE WILL BE CONFUSED BY THE ANTI-CLIMATIC ENDING, LEAVING MANY THINGS UNRESOLVED, HIS IS A WRITING ERROR BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH THIS WAS INTENDED AS A PILOT FOR A NEVER-MADE SERIES, IT SHOULD BE SELF CONTAINED. THIS COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER THAN IT ACTUALLY WAS AND WOULD HAVE MADE A DECENT SERIES I THINK, GIVEN A NEW SET OF WRITERS.

THE ACTING ISN'T GREAT AND EVERYTHING, CHARACTER WISE, HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE. BALDWIN DOES HIS BEST WITH THE MATERIAL AT HAND BUT THAT IS HARD WITH THE DIALOG AND WRITING. ANYWAY, IF YOU ARE AN ADAM BALDWIN FAN OR A HONG KONG MOVIE FAN THEN IT'S WORTH A LOOK, BUT OTHERWISE I CAN'T SEE A REASON TO BOTHER.

TAGLINES:

"You can't refuse your destiny"

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:

VIDEO PREMIERE AWARDS - BEST ACTOR - ADAM BALDWIN

FILMING LOCATIONS:

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA.

HONG KONG, CHINA.

GENERAL FACTS AND STUFF THAT DOESNT FIT ANYWHERE ELSE:

MADE AS A PILOT FOR A NEVER MADE TV SERIES.

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