Clever but lacks tension; Grim and gruesome yet interesting.

Rating: Null/10 (16 March 2012)

The Hughes duo walks out of their zone and decides to tell the iconic Jack the Ripper case and the result is a good piece of cinematic art if not an excellent movie. The movie captures the dark alleys of 19th century London well and the production design has to be appreciated. The part where the movie disappoints most is its plot which is slow, tension free and involves too many characters. A murder mystery is expected to have lots of drama, thrill and twists but From Hell delivers little on that regard and the initial build up leads to no real surprises in the end. The story telling seems flawed at times as it lets the murders take a backseat and instead focuses on a blossoming romance between the leads.
Over the years Johnny Depp has carved a niche for himself playing dark and damaged characters with amazing deft. This time too he does whatever that is required of him with an amazing screen presence. Depp's Inspector Abberline has a strange accent, is always high, has futuristic visions and also has to balance these with his romantic inclinations. Heather Graham (Mary Kelly) portrays her part decently but she looks too pretty and gentle to be branded a "bang tail" after all. The other girls of the pack seemed equally lackluster and could not evoke any sympathy in the minds of the audience. A couple of performances stand out among the rest – the first one being Ian Holm's Royal surgeon (William Gull) whose speeches are articulate and emotes well with his expressions, the second one has to be Robbie Coltrane's Sergeant Godley who is the flabby and quirky sidekick of Abberline and complements Depp well in their scenes together. The rest of the characters do not leave any impression or were simply not required. The background score supports the dark tone of the movie well and fills the atmosphere with horror.
If you're in search of a movie which is nice to look at, you can try this but if you expect a whodunit type of chilling thriller then you're likely to be disappointed. Depp fans can still go to see their opium-addict detective strolling around the streets of London to solve a famous case.