Johnny Depp Searches for Jack the Ripper in From Hell
Written: May 20 '08 (Updated Oct 08 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Engrossing story. Depp.
Cons: Violent and gory at times.
The Bottom Line: From Hell was an interesting look at the search for Jack the Ripper that is worth seeing at least once. Fans of Depp may enjoy it.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: From Hell |
Most people have at least heard of Jack the Ripper even if they don’t know a lot of details about the crimes he committed. There has been a lot of speculation about him over the years since he was never caught and several books and movies have tried to come up with theories about who he really was. From Hell is one of those movies that I enjoyed.
In the Whitechapel district of London in 1888, five prostitutes were trying to figure out how to deal with a problem. Things seemed a bit better for their friend Ann, but that changed quickly when she and the father of her daughter, Albert, were taken away by force. Ann never returned home. Mary, Liz, Kate, Polly, and Dark Annie soon had other things to worry about. Someone started to brutally murder the women.
Inspector Frederick Abberline and Sergeant Peter Godley were in charge of the investigation. Abberline was known to see visions that he used to help him solve crimes. What wasn’t as well known was that he frequently used opium to induce the visions. As the murders continued, Abberline became more convinced that the killer, who came to be known as Jack the Ripper, was an educated man who had possibly trained to be a doctor. Abberline and Mary started a friendship after she decided to talk to him. As he continued his investigation, Abberline developed a theory that the murders were meant to cover up something else.
From Hell was based on the graphic novel of the same name written by Eddie Campbell and Alan Moore. I haven’t read the graphic novel, so I don’t know for sure how close the movie stayed to the source material. I have read that Moore was not happy with changes that were made. I have also read that some people who have read the graphic novel said that the movie changed so much that it wasn’t the same story anymore.
From Hell dealt with the investigation into the real murders committed by Jack the Ripper. He was never captured, so there is no way to know for sure who he really was or what his motivation for the murders was. There have been many theories developed over the years concerning the identity of Jack the Ripper. I don’t know a lot about Jack the Ripper or the theories, so I’m not sure if the theory developed in the movie was a real one or one that was invented for the graphic novel or movie. I also don’t know how accurate the movie was in sharing details connected to the murders. Some liberties were probably taken with some of the facts. I did discover that Inspector Abberline was a real person who investigated the murders. As far as I have learned, he did not use opium or get visions. The five prostitutes did have the names of the actual victims. I have no idea if they really were friends or not. I did think the theory that the women were killed for a specific reason instead of just randomly picked was interesting.
There really wasn’t any action in From Hell, but there was violence. The murders were extremelly violent, though for most of them, only a few short glimpses were shown. The few images shown were enough to illustrate just how brutal the killings were. There was a lot of blood shown, and the parts of the murders that were shown weren’t pleasant to see in any way. All of the bodies were at least briefly shown, though the most brutal of the injuries weren’t really shown. For a few of the victims, there was a quick shot that shared a brief glimpse of some of those injuries, which was more than enough for me. All the injuries, like the fact that organs were removed, were discussed once Abberline knew for sure what had been done to the women. Those discussions were a bit disturbing and may bother some viewers. Some of the images that were shown were extremelly gory, so they will bother some viewers. The movie deserved the R rating and is definitely not something for children to see.
Since the five women were prostitutes, sex did play a part in what was going on in From Hell. They had some discussions about their work that might be too graphic for some people. Most of them weren’t shown with clients. When that did happen once or twice, not much sexual activity was shown. The only sex scene in the movie featured Ann and Albert before they were interrupted and taken away. That scene also had a tiny bit of nudity. There was an attempt to add in a relationship between Abberline and Mary that just seemed out of place. They were just together a few times to discuss what was going on and then it was like they suddenly decided that they were in love. It just didn’t seem to fit. I have no idea if that was in the graphic novel or not.
Abberline and Godley had a good working relationship even though it didn’t seem like Godley liked how much opium Abberline used. Abberline had his own ghosts, which may have been what caused him to start using the opium in the first place. That wasn’t explored enough and it also wasn’t said how long he had been getting visions. He seemed determined to discover who Jack the Ripper was, even if it meant exposing a cover up that involved prominent people. I did think Johnny Depp did a good job with the part. Godley was in much of the movie, working with Abberline, but he really wasn’t developed. Robbie Coltrane was fine in the part.
Mary was the only one of the women who received enough attention to be developed. There wasn’t anything new to the character of a prostitute with a heart of gold and she didn’t seem to look the part either. She seemed to look too attractive and clean compared to the other women working in the same area. She was supposed to be a prostitute struggling to make enough just to eat, and she really didn’t look like it. Heather Graham wasn’t anything special in the part. Ann and Albert were only briefly shown, so they didn’t have much to do. Ian Holm did turn up in a few scenes as Sir William Gull, the personal physician to the royal family that Abberline talked to about the case.
Main Cast
Robbie Coltrane - Sergeant Peter Godley
Johnny Depp - Inspector Abberline
Heather Graham - Mary Kelly
Ian Holm - Sir William Gull
Directed by Albert and Allen Hughes
DVD Information
I first saw From Hell in the theater when it came out in 2001. I picked up the DVD a few months ago. My copy has the widescreen version of the movie. I’m not sure if there is a full screen version available or not. There is a commentary by the directors, screenwriter, cinematographer and Robbie Coltrane. There were more than twenty deleted scenes as well as an alternate ending that wasn’t that different from the theatrical ending. Most of the deleted scenes were really just slightly different versions of scenes that were in the movie. For some of them, the only difference I could see was that they were in black and white. The menu for the deleted scenes had such small text that I couldn’t read anything, which was annoying. Maybe the text could be read on a larger television.
From Hell was an entertaining take on Jack the Ripper that is worth seeing at least once. Fans of Johnny Depp may also like the movie.
This review is part of elvisdo’s 2008 Funny Pages Write-Off.
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Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: DVD
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