Victorian London via Hollywood

Rating: 5/10 (22 October 2001)

Going into this film, I had to realize that I am a great fan of the graphic novel; I consider it to be one of the great works of graphic storytelling, along with "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen". It is, therefore, somewhat difficult to put aside any bias I might have had toward this film from the beginning. I did try, but it certainly didn't make it easy.
First, just to start off light, for the good points: the film is visually quite arresting. The sets, the cinematography, the camera work, all work together to create a very interesting vision of 1880's London. It isn't what you'd call a realistic vision, but it is interesting nonetheless. Unfortunately, visually stylistic films are a dime a dozen these days. It takes more than that to impress.
Sadly, the film doesn't have much else. The Hughes brothers are obviously quite familiar with the novel, but sadly, they've only picked out the seedy trappings of it, and left out what really made it work. Where the novel extensively examined the world in which Jack went about his work, the film ditches all of that and settles instead on a standard murder mystery. We've seen this story a hundred times in countless modern serial killer thrillers. By keeping the identity of Jack a mystery, and following the investigations of Inspector Abberline, they have reduced the story to something very drab and unoriginal.
Among the worst touches is Abberline's psychic ability. The "vision" sequences are more annoyingly modern than creepy, and really don't seem to help him much in his investigations, or aid the story in its journey. They simply add an unwelcome supernatural element to events based (however loosely) on reality. I can only imagine that the film-makers' intention was to combine two characters from the novel. However, the novel's "psychic" admitted to being a fraud. So why is this here?
A Hollywood product mentality is found throughout the production. While the supporting whore roles are filled out very believably, Heather Graham is instead cast in the role of the "Friday The 13th" virgin who is immune to harm because we never see her engaging in sex. She stands out like a sore thumb among the grime with her colorful dress and pretty hair and makeup. They've done away with Abberline's marriage in order to make way for a romance with Heather Graham's "whore". And the mistaken-identity ending sets up a conclusion so saccharine as to belong in a Shirley Temple movie.
In the end "From Hell" turns out to be nothing more than a standard Hollywood serial killer movie with the words "Jack the Ripper" inserted into it. 5 out of 10.