From Hell

Inspector Fred Abberline and prostitute Mary Kelly investigate the motivation of Jack the Ripper (while falling in love) in the London of 1888. Mary has a bit of a vested interest in this investigation - it is her friends that are being killed, and she might just be next...

Inspector Fred Abberline (Johnny Depp)
Mary Kelly (Heather Graham)
Sir William Gull (Ian Holm)
Sergeant Peter Godley (Robbie Coltrane)
Sir Charles Warren (Ian Richardson)
Netley, the Coachman (Jason Flemyng)
'Dark' Annie Chapman (Katrin Cartlidge)
Liz Stride (Susan Lynch)
Ann Crook (Joanna Page)
Kate Eddowes (Lesley Sharp)
Polly (Annabelle Apsion)
Martha Tabram (Samantha Spiro)
Dr. Ferral (Paul Rhys)
Benjamin 'Ben' Kidney (Terence Harvey)
McQueen (David Schofield)
Prince Edward Albert Victor (Mark Dexter)
Ada (Estelle Skornick)

Year: 2001
Censorship Rating: R (for violence, gore, adult themes and strong language)

Ahh, Jack the Ripper. Generally seen as the first modern serial killer, his legend (not to mention his media-determined catchy moniker) has fascinated people ever since the killings occurred. Part of this fascination is no doubt inspired by the fact he (or she - I don't want to be sexist about it) was never caught. With no-one definitively exposed as the Ripper, it left the door wide open for a range of authors to hypothesize who Jack really was and (perhaps more interestingly) why s/he did it. One such piece of work is the movie From Hell, based on Alan Moore's graphic novel of the same name.

We open with text from Jack the Ripper, claiming s/he gave birth to the 20th Century [and if that's the case, there are a lot of angry people who want to talk to you, Jack]. This moves onto short scenes of someone preparing and smoking opium.

Cut to a very ominous looking cityscape of London, 1888. We pan down to Whitechapel and its collection of colourful inhabitants (ie an assortment of scum and villainry). The focus shifts to a woman who, given where she is and what she appears to be doing, must be a prostitute. But not just any prostitute! In fact, she is Mary Kelly, the Most Radiant Prostitute in London. Look at her! Her skin positively glows with health! Anyway, in short order Mary is bailed up by two toughs (one of them named McQueen) of the Nichols Gang - she and her friends have to pay their "protection" money or else...

The next day, while washing up at the communal washing trough, the girls (for future reference: Mary Kelly, Liz Stride, Annie Chapman, Martha Tabram and Kate Eddowes) see Ann Crook. Ann has a baby (named Alice) and a male benefactor / sugar daddy, meaning she is doing pretty well for herself. Ann is meeting Albert (her benefactor) shortly, and promises to get the money for the girls. She hands her baby over to be looked after while she sees Albert.

[I'll point out here that, apart from Mary Kelly, it is hard to work out which woman is which until - and I don't mean to be morbid - after they are murdered. This is because they are generally all shown together at the same time and rarely call each other by name. Such scripting doesn't really help us connect with the soon-to-be-vicitm, since they rarely get the dignity of a name until after death!]

A sleeping coachman is awakened roughly at knifepoint and given a message by a scary, white-haired man. The coachman is named Netley, while the white-haired man shall shortly be identified as Mr Kidney.

Ann and Albert are caught out as Mr Kidney and group of toughs burst into their room. They grab Ann. Outside, the girls see Ann and Albert shoved into carriages and driven off.

Mr Kidney interrogates Ann about "who knows!?!". [Who knows what? We'll come to that later on...]

Mary and Martha talk about what they should do with Ann's baby. Mary sets off to take the baby to Ann's parents while Martha goes off to work. Martha doesn't see that she is being tailed by McQueen of the Nichols Gang and doesn't get too far before ... someone ... drags her into an alley. Martha is murdered in the shadows, with all we can see being the knife at work...

Shifting to an opium den, where a number of Victorian ladies and gentlemen can be seen reclining. A man is focused on and has a vision of the streets of Whitechapel and about a murder [hmm, wonder what the other people are dreaming about...] . Some police arrive and collect this visionary from the den.

Refreshed at the police station, it turns out this man is Inspector Fred Abberline. He discusses his vision with his off-sider, Sergeant Peter Godley. Godley informs Abberline about a murdered prostitute, with "the way she was done" is such that it requires Abberline's attention.

At the morgue, the attendent refuses to assist Abberline and Godley and again get involved with the "mess" and "degredation" that is Martha's corpse.

At the Royal London Hospital, Dr William Gull is leading a group of learned men to observe Dr Ferral implement "an entirely new approach to the treatment of insanity". This "simple procedure" is a frontal labotomy. The subject? Ann Crook.

Cut to the Ten Bells, a pub where the girls meet. They discuss next steps and decide to "work the streets harder than ever" to make their protection money.

Mary Ann meets a 'client'. After finishing, she is collecting her money when she is roughly handled by McQueen, who threatens some rather nasty violence. Fortunately, a bobby (ie policemen, for all those who don't watch British crime dramas) is there to break things up and Mary Ann gets away.

Mary Ann is shaken by this event and is even further disorientated when given a Sapphic kiss by Liz Stride. Distressed, she takes off down the street and ...

... at some point hops into a carriage carrying a gentleman, which is where we see her next. She is given some grapes and a drink to have while looking at Cleopatra's Needle (which is a landmark / shrine). The gentlemen starts to tell her about the Needle, but begins strangling Mary Ann about half-way through the history lesson. Jack then sets about his grisly work on the street.

The body is found by a policeman, and (in time lapse) we see the activities that go on around the body [which is lots of people standing around doing not a lot and seems quite apt. This time lapse scene worked very well, in my opinion] until Abberline gets there in the morning. Abberline quickly deduces some facts about the murder in a slightly unimpressive fashion - they seem pretty obvious that any casual witness would pick up. Still, he's the detective and maybe it's considered a key part of the job to say obvious things out loud. Abberline also finds some odd-smelling grape stems and that same odour on the victim's lips.

Back at the morgue, the mutilations of Mary Ann are too much for the attendents, who all gag loudly. Abberline realises that this isn't the work of the McNichols Gang since it is too "meticulous and deliberate; altogether a different breed of killer" from the street gang. [Also, Godley mentions that he'd love to have a reason to come down on the Nichols Gang, then not five mintues later the two detectives discuss another brutal crime that was committed by the Nichols boys. Didn't that one count, Godley? And if you are going to be a corrupt and / or brutal cop, why wait for a reason at all?]

Abberline briefs the bobbys on what Jack did and who they should be looking for ie anyone skilled with a knife by trade.

The police chief, Sir Charles Warren, meets with Abberline. In a scene that seems there just to throw the old chesnut of Our Young Always Right Hero being hampered by the Old Fuddy Duddy Establishment, Warren indicates "that an Englishman couldn't do it", certainly not an educated, well-bred Englishman at that. Instead, he blames Native Americans (from Wild Bill's Travelling Circus) and Jewish butchers and tailors. Abberline disagrees and believes the presence of expensive grapes near the body indicates someone with money. Warren also shows his warm, sensitive side by 1) showing he doesn't care one whit about the women who are being killed and 2) linking Abberline's career to his success on this case.

A bloody sky hangs over London. The media have gotten wind of the murders and are starting to ramp up the attention. Some members of the public have taken matters into their own hands and are attacking Jewish establishments.

Abberline goes home for a night spent sitting in his bath, listening to his phonograph and drinking his absinthe and laudanum cocktails [boy, bet you those have a kick to them!]. Passing out, he reminisces of his wife and the time she told him she was pregnant [and you can just guess that this didn't turn out well... but then, does anything in this version of London?].

The next day, Abberline and Godley go to Mary Ann's funeral. There is a mishap and the corpse ends up partially exposed, much to the amusement of the crows in attendance. Abberline tries to get the girls to tell him what is going on, but we run into the No Tattling Cliche, where potential victims refuse to tell those people who could help them anything at all. Mary is rude to Abberline, but you can tell that he is drawn to her [and why not! She is positively radiant! Absolutely glowing with goodness!].

Mary reminisces about the good times after she came from Ireland [unfortunately, as the scene goes on, we can tell by her accent that she was born in the little-known Irish county of Milwaukee, Wisconsin that sits just outside of Dublin]. Annie Chapman thinks that maybe Ann Crook and Albert were abducted by officials (since they looked "clean shaven and [their] clothes was neat", meaning they don't live on the streets) so maybe they could go to the papers and get some money since the media is always desperate to hear bady things about the government [you know, some things just don't change!]. Mary does a 180-flip and tries to convince the other girls they should go to Abberline for help, but they all deride her.

The girls are then thrown out of the flophouse they were staying at when the owner finds out they have four people in the room and are only paying for one. They hit the streets to earn their living.

Elsewhere, a phonograph screeches to live as a man sits down to a blood-soaked meal of meat and vegetables. His choice of dining room art is interesting - lots of pictures of people with deformities and medical operations. This gentleman also mixes up an absinthe and laudanum cocktail, while drinking his own alcohol-and-drug concoction. He dresses for a night on the town, bag of medical tools (decorated by a small symbol) at the ready.

On the streets of Whitechapel, Netley the coachman prepares himself with a shot of bottled courage and goes looking for one of the girls. He finds Annie Chapman and sweet-talks her out of her reluctance, using grapes as a sweetener. Netley brings her to his "gentlemen", then stands at the entrance to the courtyard where Jack is waiting for Annie. Netley doesn't look particularly happy about being involved in this. The murder of Annie Chapman is shown to us in flashes, accompanied by the sound of a steam train.

Abberline arrives in said courtyard the next morning. Police and reporters are standing around while the public watch from the windows above. Abberline sees an arrangement of trinkets that he sketches, then connects the dots to form a slightly familiar looking symbol. It is revealed that Abberline had a vision of Annie the night before. Abberline also indicates that the Ripper has become more artful (if you can call it that) in his mutilations and finds some more grape stems. He posits that "this killing isn't for proft - this is ritual".

Abberline sees Warren and requests help from a competant, sober surgeon (unlike the police doctor, apparently). Warren denies the request, claiming that "consulting doctors [will lead to] all sorts of wild notions being printed". Warren also wants no-one else to see the bodies.

At the London Hospital, the upper-class have gathered to gawk at John Merrick aka the Elephant Man. Drs Ferral and Gull are in attendance, with Abberline also watching on. After, champagne is served and donations made. Albert is seen, shakily signing a cheque. Abberline approaches Ferral for some help on the Whitechapel case, but Ferral claims Abberline should be pursuing "foreigners, Orientals, Jews, socialists" instead. Gull steps in.

He takes Abberline off and offers to assist. Gull reveals that he used to be a surgeon but suffered a brain seizure so is now limited to teaching. Abberline and Gull discuss the Ripper's methodology [explaining things very, very clearly any members of the audience who were confused about what they've seen thus far]. The inspector reveals that he smelled laudanum on the bodies, which leads Gull to state that only "doctors and addicts" know the smell [certainly not upstanding policemen, who surely have never had to deal with doctors or addicts before nor the rarity that is drugs in society. Sure, Gull is right because the movie makes him right, but for someone to call an inspector an addict based on that flimsy bit of evidence is a huge leap of logic. Also: does laudanum really smell like opium? Wouldn't the process of creating laudanum potentially give it a different smell? Anyway...].

Gull gives Abberline something to help with his addiction. He also reveals to Abberline that the Ripper is a right-handed experienced surgeon. [How about his address while you are at it, Gull? Unfortunately, Gull again appears to make a few leaps in logic, but hey, it's in the script so he can be proved right later on.]

Albert searches for Ann on the streets of London.

Queen Victoria discusses the condition of Albert with Gull. Gull believes that Albert's condition is treatable. This pleases the queen, who is glad that Gull "in all ways attends to the health of the Empire".

Abberline sets the bobbys to patrol an area where the Ripper is likely to strike. Godley quotes some Shakespeare at them, but none of them get it.

[Aside: I haven't mentioned it before, but Godley's stab at characterisation is quoting Shakespeare. Otherwise, his only role is to give Abberline someone to talk to. Such a role can work, but to be honest, Coltrane isn't really given that much to do. The role of Godley is one that requires him to just stand there while Abberline makes all the discoveries and correct deductions. Abberline then tells Godley his findings, which serves to keep the audience up-to-date with what is going on. If you have the interest, watch From Hell but pretend that Godley doesn't exist. You'll see what difference he makes to the movie; in my opinion, not much at all.]

Netley meets with Jack - as a "simple man", Netley wants out. Jack indicates that they are "in the most extreme, uncluttered region of the human mind; a radiant abyss where men meet themselves". Netley doesn't understand, so Jack clarifies - they are "in Hell". [Suffice to say Netley doesn't get out.]

Mary is striding through the streets until grabbed by Godfrey and thrown into a carriage with Abberline. Abberline needs evidence, but Mary doesn't have enough to put away all of the Nichols Gang, which would leave her in danger.

At the Ten Bells, Abberline buys Mary dinner. They talk, with Mary indicating a desire to be a mother. Abberline tells her that he sees her "in a little cottage, by the sea, surrounded by children" and that he has visions. Abberline [finally] asks if anything out-of-the-ordinary has happened to Mary and her friends recently.

Abberline outlines to Godley his dicoveries - the link to Ben Kidney "of Special Branch" [I'm a bit hazy how he was identified - is he the only white-haired man in town?] and the basic facts of Ann Crook's husband, child and their disappearance. Godley advises against taking on Special Branch.

Abberline enters Special Branch HQ and bluffs his way into the file room (but uses his real name). He finds a file marked 'Cleveland Street' that gives him some leads on Ann Crook.

Outside, Kidney and his Main Thug arrive back. Godley sets off a small explosive distraction that somehow assists Abberline in getting out of the building. Up in the file room, Kidney zeroes in on the file Abberline was looking at pretty quickly.

Abberline and Mary arrive at Marleybone Work House. With some misgivings, Abberline takes Mary with him when he enters. Inside, they find Ann Crook, now lobotomised. She reveals that her suitor was "a Prince" [but she also says that she hears her baby Alice "laughing at her" and that she is "a Queen", so I'd take everything she says with a grain of salt].

Abberline and Mary talk [one of the best lines in the film occurs here: "England doesn't have whores, just a great mass of unlucky women"] and recount the events seen at the beginning of the movie. To add to the pathos, Abberline reveals that he lost his wife during child birth to his first son. Abberline then takes Mary to an art gallery where (apart from getting some dirty looks from the gentry) Mary recognises the painting of Prince Edward Albert Victor as Ann's Albert.

Abberline barges in on Gull, despite Dr Farell's objections. Gull indicates that Albert likes "unfortunate women", but has contracted and is heavily effected by syphillis so can't be Jack the Ripper. Abberline sees the Ripper murders as "revenge" while Gull disagrees [and again points out Jack's pathology for the benefit of the audience].

Kidney enters a secret underground chamber full of powerful men and watches Dr Farell get sworn into the Freemasons. Police Chief Warren is also there and is quizzed on Abberline's ability which he backhandedly compliments. Kidney is asked out how "his man" is doing.

Abberline goes through the Ripper letters sent in by the public. During this Godley warns against Abberline having feelings for Mary, but Abberline pulls rank to shut him up. A letter 'From Hell' arrives, accompanied by a kidney [the organ, not the guy from Special Branch].

Mary reveals Albert's royal connection to the girls. Liz shows up drunk and with a new companion named Ada. Abberline shows up and sees Mary outside, and 1) tells her the Nichols Gang have been arrested [wasn't that easy?], 2) indicates the girls should get off the streets and 3) provides her the money to get a room. Mary appreciates the kindness and reminisces about her "little village" back in Ireland. Abberline blocks an attempted kiss from Mary which upsets her, but Abberline kisses her passionately in short order. They are interrupted by a bobby (who recognises Abberline after a moment and moves past) but they end the scene looking into each others' eyes.

At the safe room hired to protect them, Liz and Ada get drunk and annoy everyone. They fight, which leads to a broken window. Angry, Liz heads off into the night.

Abberline discovers Kidney was a Grenadier Guard who assisted with field surgery, which possibly could make him Jack the Ripper. Godley disagrees with this assessment though. The audience is treated to an overview of what the scandal of the future head of the Protestant Church and King of England marrying a prostitute in a Catholic ceremony could do (ie "rip the Empire to pieces").

[I'll do this bit in dot point to indicate how these scenes run these events together:]

• Mary and Kate worry about Liz [and quite rightly at that].

• Liz is picked up by a gravel-voiced man in a coach.

• Kate leaves the safe room in search of Liz.

• Liz drops the grapes given to her in a puddle, but this lets her see the knife Jack is holding. She escapes Jack, but is tackled to the ground by Netley. A witness sees them, but is scared off.

• Kate looks at the Ten Bells for Liz.

• Jack kills Liz with a bloody slash, but is interrupted and forced to flee by a passing wagon.

• Abberline examines Liz's corpse and has a few vague visions about the area. He leaves the body to follow his visions.

• Kate is walking down a street (you can see the coach in the background) when Jack glides across her path and slits her throat.

• Abberline keeps following his vision, but are grabbed by members of Special Branch, including Main Thug. Main Thug warns him to get with the program and find a scapegoat... or else. Abberline is knocked unconscious by a Main Thug's headbutt.

Abberline wakens and follows a growing crowd to Kate's body. Nearby Kate's body is a distinctive chalk message. Police Chief Warren shows up and orders the message cleared away. Abberline gets upset by this destruction of evidence, which sees Warren suspend Abberline from the investigation.

Abberline gives the Ten Bell's barman a letter to give to Mary.

Abberline packs his desk, casting a final look over the evidence. His eyes linger on the grape stems [which I originally took to mean he was considering the evidence carefully, but given where he ends up next, I now realise he's just thinking about the laudanum.] Later, in an opium den, Abberline has visions of Jack, masonic rituals, Mary's murder, grapes, the suspects and lots of blood and shadows [now what would Jung say about that?]. Mary gets the letter from the Ten Bells, but is watched by Netley as she leaves. Back at the safe room, Mary reads the letter.

Abberline [fresh from the opium den, which is the best time to do detailed research] goes to the library and looks up Freemansonry, where he discovers quite a few similarities between what is mentioned and what Jack has done.

Cut to the safe room and a false scare - a figure approaches Mary slowly, but it turns out to be Ada. Ada has taken some of Mary's money and used it to buy food. Despite having just stolen from her, Ada also indicates some personal interest in "beautiful Mary", but Mary indicates that Ada won't have to work for her supper.

Abberline goes to see Gull, observing that Kidney is watching him from across the street.

[Aside: As you can see by the change in my paragraphs, these scenes at the end of the movie just jump from main character to main character. It's a bit disjointing, but does serve to show that a lot of things are happening at the same time. How well it works is up for you to decide.]

A woman in a blue dress is shown to be leaving the safe room while Netley is shown to have found out where the girls are staying.

[Just in case, **SPOILER ALERT** for the rest below. Just skip through to the Comments section below if you don't want to know the 'twists'.]

Abberline speaks to Gull about the Freemasons and how Jack's ritualistic rituals is linked to them. Gull indicates that, yes, Jack is a Freemason, but one that Abberline "won't be permitted to arrest". Abberline says that he is no longer interested in just arresting Jack to stop him. A conversation between Gull and Abberline reveals how Gull got involved in the Ripper killings [which seems mostly included for the benefit of those people in the audience who are particularly bad at working things out for themselves] - Gull being asked to help the cover-up of the marriage, how Prince Albert being diagnosed with syphillis ruined Gull's "life's work" of protecting the Empire and how the "whores" are "traitors" to the Empire.

Gull shuts his eyes - when he re-opens them, they are black and he speaks with gravelly tone. He rants a bit ("One day, men will look back and say I gave birth to the twentieth century") and Abberline has some visions about Jack / Gull committing the Ripper murders. Abberline readies his gun to kill Jack / Gull, but [following Ken Begg's Rule of Guns] decides to walk across the room to shoot him, thus allowing Kidney to teleport from off-screen and knock him out with a cane [honestly, there is no way Abberline wouldn't have seen Kidney given the layout of the room, so teleportation is the only way possible this could have happened].

Jack / Gull heads sets out across a malevolent London skyline. Abberline wakes up in a coach with Kidney and Dr Farell. Farell is readying a syringe that bodes ill for Abberline, but Abberline manages to headbutt Farell unconscious. Struggling with Kidney, Abberline then manages to push him partially out of the carriage. Abberline now frees himself while the audience is greeted with Kidney's face being used much like a playing card with bicycle spokes. The carriage wheel breaks [exactly how hard is Kidney's head?] and the carriage tips so now Kidney is being dragged under the carriage [in yet another case of punishing the villain to excess]. The horses bring themselves to a stop.

Netley and Jack / Gull arrive outside the girl's safe room.

Abberline climbs out of the tipped carriage and sets off to save Mary.

Gull / Jack enters the girl's no-longer-safe room and approaches the sleeping figure on the bed.

[At this point the movie cuts between Abberline running and Jack / Gull taking his time in setting up and pondering his next move. However, this scene lacks no tension if you know anything about the Ripper murders because we know that Jack murdered Mary Kelly in a room such as the one shown. Therefore Abberline won't get there in time to save her, so there is no point in trying to build it up. Plus how would Abberline even know where to go?]

After killing the girl in the bed, Jack / Gull lights some candles. Outside, Netley is astounded to see the room positively glow with light. Inside, there is a lot of blood. Jack / Gull hears voices and gives a lecture on the human heart as he removes it, then drops it in the kettle and boils it. From the kettle a bright light flashes - Jack / Gull and the body are transported in front of an applauding audience of a medical lecture.

Abberline arrives in the morning to a large crowd and the police already going over the room. Seeing the remains of the body ("She's in pieces," comments one distraught bobby) he lashes out at Police Chief Warren. Warren calmly indicates that Jack is done and that Abberline is reinstated with a promotion. He also indicates that Abberline will be watched. Abberline is enraged, but Godley holds him back while Warren leaves.

Entering the room, Abberline examines the body tenderly while the coroner describes its condition and notes are taken. Abberline realises that the hair is the wrong colour for it to be Mary and leaves.

[For those who don't get what happened, it was Ada on the bed when Jack / Gull walked in. Both wore blue dresses. Mary had left earlier in the night.]

Abberline gets Mary's letter from the Ten Bells. She has left to collect Baby Alice and return to her village in Ireland. She invites Abberline to join her. As Abberline moves off, we can see that he is watched by the Special Branch's Main Thug.

Queen Victoria is upset the "ghastly rituals" that took place during the murders. Lord Halsham is asked to look after Gull.

At the Freemason trial, Gull dismisses the charges as irrelevant ("I have no peers" and "the Great Architect speaks to me" as examples). As a result, the Freemasons have Gull lobotomised while Abberline is allowed to watch.

Abberline can't go to Mary because he could endanger her. He burns her letter. Later, in an opium den, Abberline has visions of Mary and Alice in Ireland. Godley arrives to get him, but finds him dead and holding two coins for his journey into the afterlife.

[And thus the whole movie could have been an opium dream. I hate these kind of endings!]

As a movie, "From Hell" almost-sorta-kinda works. It isn't badly done, is very atmospheric and does a good job of recreating the Ripper murders of an 1888's London. The murders themselves are brutal, and rightly so, but the audience isn't exposed to gore just for shocks and / or titillation - there is a good mixture of both honesty and discretion in what the Ripper did to the women he murdered. Some of the effects (eg the time lapse over the body of Mary Ann Nichols) are very well done and really add to the feel of the picture. In a nice move, the city of London is made to appear an ominous and foreboding place, fitting very nicely into the flow of the movie.

All the actors do their jobs at least competently, if not very well. Johnny Depp plays Abberline well, but the character is hardly a stretch for him. Depp playing an addicted and / or troubled soul? Say it ain't so! He's done it before and will no doubt do it again. Robbie Coltrane (as mentioned above) has little to do, but does his part well. Everyone else plays at being English very well. Except ...

Heather Graham. As much as some people make her this film's big failing, she wasn't. She plays Mary Kelly well enough. However, her two big flaws are 1) her Irish accent, that comes and goes as it pleases and 2) she is the Most Radiant Prostitute in All of London. Where the other woman Graham is placed with appear dirt-smeared and beaten down by life (while keeping their accents), Mary appears more like a well-off college girl slumming it. Interestingly, the film never sullies Mary's character by making her actually work as a prostitute - she's more a prostitute by association! Thinking about it, the women are killed while attempting to earn a living as working girls; Mary, who never goes off to work, is spared. Rampant film moralising? The old Sex=Death in Horror cliche? You decide!

Going back, Heather Graham's flaws as Mary Kelly fall more at the feet of the Hughes Brothers (as directors) than at her feet. Certainly, the accent is something that Graham needed to work on, but isn't the directors' job (especially since there are two of them) to catch it when the dialogue fails? As for the appearance of Graham, the Hughes Brothers certainly should have make her appear more affected by her hard life on the street, instead of a radiant beauty.

Actually, I'm sure that both Depp and Graham were cast in order to appeal to US audiences in what is a particularly British tale. Having a rough-looking Graham in the film probably would have turned off most male (and a percentage of female) viewers. However, by not doing so, Graham ends up standing out from the rest of the cast and acts as a brake on the suspension of disbelief.

Another problem with "From Hell" is that the supernatural elements of the film don't sit too well in the film. Abberline's visions are all but irrelevant - they add nothing to the film or to the character. They just aren't needed. [As a general plea, could we please get over the idea that cinematic detectives / profilers / law enforcers require psychic visions to be good at their job? It's a lazy way of just giving the character (and the audience) the answer, rather than making the character (and the audience!) work for it.]

This film's supernatural turn also comes out of left field, no doubt leaving many members of the audience scratching their heads, wondering what the heck just went on. Having read the graphic novel I knew what this was meant to mean, but given the tone of the film to that point, it was completely unnecessary.

The other problem is that "From Hell" just drags a bit too much. It's too long for the events that occur within it. I'd wager that at least 20 minutes could probably have been cut that would have made things flow more suitably from scene to scene.

But, as I said before, "From Hell" almost works. Unfortunately, there are a few issues that really stop this movie from being an absorbing crime thriller or an effective cinematic view of the Whitechapel Murders. Once we find out who the murderer is, the film falls apart a bit. Plus the whole "was it an opium dream?" issue that the ending brought up is just stupid.

Alan Moore's and Eddie Campbell's From Hell was an epic of a graphic novel and an interesting (if unlikely) account about the when / where / what / why of Jack the Ripper. Full of conspiracies and complicities, From Hell built a rich world of both London in 1888 and how Jack the Ripper "gives birth" to the 20th Century through the murder ritual. A lot goes on, some of which is tangental to the main story.

The movie took a lot of liberties, lifting bits here and there and revising them as was seen fit. Abberline goes from a portly, balding detective to Johnny Depp (and ladies, was that the right decison or not?). The focus of "From Hell" was moved from seeing the world that Jack the Ripper existed in to a whodunit where our intrepid Hero chases the Ripper through the streets of London (downer of an ending notwithstanding). Unforunately, the movie lacks the grandeur of the graphic novel, with Jack going from a grisly architect to a supernaturally-powered serial killer (and aren't they just the worst kind of serial kiler?).

Some of the changes were to be expected - for example, one of the chapters in the graphic novel is all about Gull taking Netley to see the sights of London and explaining their history to him. Although interesting (to me, anyway) on the page, it would have made from stultifying cinema. The net effect of the changes was to rob Alan Moore's story of a lot of its power, making the film a weaker creature for not sticking more closely to the graphic novel's storyline. Of course, if it had, the movie might have gone on for four hours...

"From Hell" isn't an unenjoyable watch if you like crime flicks, but it lacks a good third act and a better pacing that would really make it shine. And speaking of shining, Heather Graham's radiance is also a bit of a distraction.

The only things that stand out are Mary Kelly's role as Most Radiant Prostitute in All London and Gull's supernatural surgery performance. However, for some people, these are dealbreakers.

Date of review: 11 April 2005