Directed by:  The Hughes Brothers
Written by:  Terry Hayes, Rafael Yglesias
Adapted from the novel by:  Alan Moore
Starring:  Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm
 

October 27, 2001

         The Hughes Brothers really have nothing to add to the serial killer genre with their new film From Hell.  It’s bloody in parts, there are some twists and turns in the story, but nothing that really held my interests. 
         We meet Inspector Frederick Abberline  (Depp) about 20 minutes into the film.  This is entirely too long to wait because Heather Graham cannot carry a film, let alone a few scenes, by herself.  I liked her in Boogie Nights because she didn’t have to act to play a porn star (She will always be “Rollergirl” to me).  She also worked out in the part of Felicity Shagwell in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me because the character was supposed to be a blonde ditz like Bond girl.
         In From Hell, she plays Mary Kelly, a street prostitute who’s supposed to be better than the rest of them and have higher aspirations in life.  I just don’t buy her in the part; she really cannot act, let alone carry an English accent. 
         From there, the laudanum addicted Inspector Abberline is put on the case of Jack the Ripper.  Of course he’s smarter than the rest of the police and figures things out they never thought of.  Oh yeah, he also has visions, that don’t really help much because he never acts on the visions he sees.  I usually like Depp and respect him for the different roles he chooses, but this character is a lot like Ichabod Crane from Sleepy Hollow.
         The story also falls apart at certain points.  For instance, Abberline discovers the killer is enticing his victims with grapes.  He doesn’t tell this to the street prostitutes, which he could have easily done, and another gets killed this way.  The whole big surprise of the identity of Jack was just too easy; I saw it coming from a mile away.
         From Hell is nicely filmed, taking after the look of Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula with the red skies and gloomy atmosphere.  The Hughes Brothers show once again they can be talented filmmakers, but this time they just didn’t bring enough to the story they chose.

Alternative Recommendations:  Menace II Society, Dead Presidents (both d: The Hughes Brothers), Seven, Silence of the Lambs, Ed Wood (s: Depp), Boggie Nights (s: Heather Graham), Brazil (s: Holm)

-Reviewed in Theater-