An adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore, and based upon the legendary serial killer “Jack The Ripper”, inspector Frederick Abberline investigates the mysterious murders of prostitutes within the White chapel district of London. Abberline who can sense when Jack the Ripper will kill someone. So he and the British police go on a manhunt to track him down and stop his terror once and for all. If anything, “From Hell” has great atmosphere.
The Hughes brothers give us great direction, and moody backdrops of the 19th century English country side (which were The Ripper’s hunting grounds); it’s creepy and gothic. The problem with “From Hell” is that Jack the Ripper takes a backseat to the dull and terrible romance between Depp’s Abberline character and Heather Graham’s prostitute character. They try to discover the Ripper’s reason for killing the prostitute’s which ends up becoming this huge and confusing chain. In the movie, we get to see the life of the 19th century prostitutes as they struggle to hide from the ripper while trying to do business.
The narrative is just convoluted and nothing very new; I expected a sort of “Se7en” kind of crime movie and only what is pretty much nonsensical and dull. The characters are all one-dimensional and basically stereotypical, with Depp who barely brings any life to his character at all. There’s also Graham who’s hardly believable as a sleazy prostitute. The movie, for the sake of covering up violence, alters the history of Jack the Ripper slightly, which for me being a buff of the Ripper lore, was a huge mistake.
The theorized identity of the ripper that we’re fed is ridiculous, while the Ripper motif is written as a sub-plot and not as central motivation. “From Hell” is teeming with potential that is absolutely wasted in a ramblnig and monotonous crime thriller. I’ve seen better.