The Hughes brothers take a mediocre stab at reviving one of the most horrifying murder investigations of all time.

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2002)

Known for creating effective dramatizations of violence in urban culture, the talent of these two brothers is lost in 19th century London. Even though From Hell misses the mark, you have to give them credit for trying. Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore, this movie is a speculated story about the cryptic tale in 1888 East London surrounding the aristocracy, a madman named Jack the Ripper, and five unknowing whores who all share a deadly secret.

Within the Whitechappel district of London (an exceptional facsimile built just outside of Prague), a murderer is on the loose. Set out to capture this mysterious villain is Inspector Frederick Abbeline (Johnny Depp). We first meet Abbeline as he wakes from an opium trip, a frequent substance used by this character to thwart his clairvoyant visions. Abbeline can see the murders before they happen. Thus, he is the one man to find the killer. The story focuses on Abbeline and a group of whores who are the primary targets of the grotesque human-carving rampage. Mary Kelly (Heather Graham), one of the whores, slowly befriends Abbeline as she becomes terribly frightened for her life. Abbeline discovers that these murders are so precisely executed that only a man with great knowledge of the human anatomy can be responsible. This is when he meets Sir William Gull (Ian Holm), a physician of the royal family, who assists Abbeline in piecing together the puzzle. Screenwriters Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesias do a terrific job of hiding the man in the shadow's identity until the last minutes of the film.

If your stomach could withstand the gore in Hannibal, you'll have no problem with this movie. It makes you wonder where the boundaries are nowadays for cinema as far as what is appropriate to show on screen and what crosses the line. It is much more effective if you leave certain things to the imagination instead of forcing your viewers to cover their eyes at every corner. Bloody effects are a bad excuse to further the plot; it's unessential; not even needed. The love relationship between Graham's Mary and Depp's Abbeline is an undeveloped side story that gets lost in the cobblestones of London. Yet again, it does nothing to further the plot and strips the story of its momentum, catering to Hollywood's unnecessary must-find-romance-somewhere agenda. Heather Graham as a wench is so unconvincing that it is sad to see the poor girl attempt to spit out an accent. Compared to the other whores in Mary's group of friends with missing teeth and bad complexion, dirt seems to easily avoid Mary and dental hygiene must be on the top of her priority list. A box of red hair dye and a Victorian corset cannot save Graham from being poorly cast in a role too far over her head. Depp, with his piercing eyes and oozing sensuality does a fine job with his character but even he can't save this movie from hell.