I don't know what it's trying to do...

Rating: 7/10 (21 April 2007)

From Hell has its moments as a movie. However, it is also an opportunity lost because people wanted to take a safe option instead of the one that was offered to them.
The plot revolves around Fred Abberline ( Johnny Depp ), a London investigator who is on the trail of Jack the Ripper as he leaves a trail of mutilated bodies through the Whitechapel district of London. High up on his list seems to be a group of prostitutes- one of which is Mary Kelly ( Heather Graham )- who confides in Abberline in the hope that the Ripper case may be solved. However, soon, both the inspector and Kelly, along with the trusty sergeant ( Robbie Coltrane ), see that the trail may lead to echelons of society far higher than they could possibly imagine.
This, in itself, does seem like a good plot for a movie. However there are a couple of big problems that stop it from working. One is that Abberline has 'visions' when under the influence of opium which seem to be a half-baked excuse by the Hughes Brothers to show London in a different light and it doesn't really work. This compounds the second problem, which is that there is no real mystery element to the plot, instead he comes up with a vision which helps him figure it out.
The performances are varied with Depp good as Abberline and Graham average as Kelly but it is the English supporting cast of Robbie Coltrane, Ian Richardson as his police chief and most strongly, Ian Holm as Sir William Gull, which makes the atmosphere come alive. To add to that is an amazingly dark score and a great set in Prague which makes Victorian London seem as real and malevolent as ever.
From Hell is a sort of a halfway house between a brilliant Alan Moore graphic novel which portrayed things from the view of Jack the Ripper and a straight out period murder mystery and it's this compromise that sees it fail. One wonders if the plot was changed just so they could get someone like Johnny Depp and Heather Graham into the star credits.