Its All In The Wrist Action.

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2004)

One of the greatest murder mysteries of all time, a timeless whodunit, necessitates the big screen interpretation thereof to be of high caliber. From Hell' is certainly well done and most interesting to watch. When the subject matter is so well known and it's history has been meticulously pieced together accessible to millions the world over, a significant challenge is presented to the moviemakers. How do you inspire interest in a story that has been heard many times over? One way would be to look for a novel that takes one of the theories and adds unique qualities to the big players of the time through which the story unfolds. Now what you have is a captivating story of interest to those in the know as well. Of course, acquiring the services of a talented cast will be of assistance too. When this is put together with surreal imagery and artistic sets, you have the formula to take up the challenge.
The moviemakers do much to exploit the audience perception of the time which is evident from the opening statement that the Ripper sees himself as the one who will be credited with giving birth to the Twentieth century. Although this illustrated the mind  set of the character that they had chosen for the Ripper, that is, one of a man who had lost all appreciation for humanity for the mastery of his trade, he is an iconic figure of the 19th century and the boldness of his statement serves to accentuate the gravity of his evil presence.

Audience perception is largely due to the rise of media at the time which achieved mass production and the story of the murders spread like fire. Whitechapel was in a grip of terror since gruesome details were of the present rather than a stale story. The rest of London read with fearful interest. His will  o  the wisp nature and methodical brutality was quickly immortalized and even today new documents are rising to the fore further titillating public interest.
The opening sequence reminds one of The Crow' where we are shown a cruel, inhospitable part of London where people are expendable commodities and civil society would have nothing to do with them. The blood red sky relayed a message to the audience of the bloodshed that lay ahead. We then descend into the city and witness the degradation in the form of drunkenness and street women being exploited. A problem that some may have is that the characters are not realistic enough since they are too pleasing to the eye. However, we are not dealing with a realistic account, but a movie that must identify with the audiences perception of the times which has been molded by countless movies and novels. The Hughes Brothers would do well not to deviate from this and they did not.
The use of this kind of imagery was presumably taken from the graphic novel. Not necessarily a direct excerpt, but its use helped to tie in the world of the graphic novel with that of the big screen. In that sense the movie should appeal to readers of the novel as well as presenting a new fictional interpretation of these events to other members of the audience. Current CGI technology certainly has the ability to enable a transition of this type. As with The Crow' the moviemakers have successfully brought to life the pages of the graphic novel.

An impression of the medical fraternity of the time was given as being social beings above all others who were specimens for their diagnosis. The scenes with the Elephant man illustrated this. They were devoid of empathy and utilized the tools of the trade to achieve the required ends of the clan. This was the crux of the Ripper's actions and was the object of a few mesmerizing montages. What was noticeable here was that the gore was limited to suggestion and the savage attacks were indicated by the flash of a sharp blade. This was a cinematically acceptable way of capturing these gruesome scenes and most of the movie rides on the ominous presence of the Ripper rather than on the extremities of his crimes.

His overbearing presence was also achieved by scenes where we see the back of the Ripper and hear his voice as a hissing, malevolent evil. When we discover his identity and his eyes turn to pitch black, we are given an image of the dark, raging evil entity that resides within. The eyes rather than his actions are used to better describe his nature. This is done again in one of the final scenes where we see him in confinement with milky eyes  no longer a threat, devoid of means to do anything.

The cast was full of notables and all aptly contributed to the movie. Johnny Depp was a good choice for the lead role of Detective Abberline. His natural and genuine sense of empathy was an entertaining stark contrast to that of the Ripper and the members of the clan. He is also a staunch individualist who will do things on inspiration rather than to the book thus fitting snugly into the shell of his character. Ian Holme got the transition from being the physician at the twilight of his career (a harmless old man), to the demonic, twisted Doctor with an evil purpose in the confrontation scene with Depp without hamming it up and was utterly convincing. Depp's sidekick, Robbie Coltrane, is an outstanding character actor and is always memorable. Ian Richardson has a strong penchant for playing powerful people with dark ulterior motives and delivers once more. Heather Graham perhaps did not do enough with her role, but did not pale too badly in comparison to the strong cast.
The fear of the stalker who strikes without warning and leaves his gruesome acts for all to see has a special place deep in the sub  conscious of society. He attacks our sense of security and rekindles our ancient fear of the unknown. Jack The Ripper was such a being and his heinous acts seemed to be not of man, but of an evil entity. Horror will always be a walking ground for the man who got away. Even if they do solve the case, which I doubt, the continued deliberation as to his true identity will continue to inspire future tales of the world's most infamous night stalker.