HATED IT!!!!

Rating: Null/10 (20 October 2001)

The premise of a story about the infamous "jack the ripper" sounded so compelling. Based on what I already knew I think anyone would have to admit that a story about him would be very interesting to see, and if anything terribly disturbing and frightening. Not so in "from hell".

I have a 5 minute rule that I apply to every movie I see. It is always on the money. If after the 1st five minutes I am not "into it" the chances are extremely high that I will not get into it. The reason I am so adamant about this rule is that in my oppinion if the director couldn't be bothered to grab you in what should be your first impression of the 2 hour film then what the hell is he/she waiting for?
From hell was gruesome and bloody and so violent, violence which I have not seen since that horrible movie "the cell" with Jennifer Lopez. I understand that the movie is about JACK THE RIPPER and he was an extremley violent man, however I find that the most scarry movies I have seen in my life use great direction, and editing, and acting to invoke fear in the viewer instead of gratuitous blood and gutz throughout. It's kind of like a comedian who uses profanity. Just saying the word fuck is not funny. However putting it in all the right places can be hilarious.
This movie was about the detective played by Johnnie Depp who was on the case to catch the elusive Jack the Ripper. Throughout the film we were shown numerous possible suspects that were all indicated by wearing a masonic ring. OOh. Scarry. It gave you all sorts of false leads and you were supposed to be surpised when you learned who he really was. I frankly was not only not surprised, but I did not care. It also involved a love story between Johnnie Depp and Heather Graham who played the parts and the accents very well, but I did not feel for either of these characters in the slightest. I also found it humorous that all of the prostitutes in the film were dirty looking and not very attractive at all and by comparison Heather Graham looked like a supermodel. They also made a point to say that she wasn't born into this life but misfortune drove her to it which is the reason I suppose her teeth were white and straight, her hair fashionable and clean, and her clothes neat and tidy, while the others were wretched.

The scenes of Jack the ripper doing his dirty work were vile and unnecessary. I GOT THE POINT. I remember a movie about HG Wells chasing Jack the ripper through time, I think it was called Time after Time. The movie although not soley focused on Jack was scarry and interesting and made me want to know more about this person which is why I was so disappointed when I saw this movie.
From Hell had little point. It was all over the place and very predictable. In the films favor I must say that the scenery was incredible, the cinemetography outstanding, and the sets were beautiful to watch. Contrarily I also must add that often times when I see movies that seem to spend such a large portion of their budget on this they tend to ignore the more important stuff like character development and plot.
I think all together this could have been a much better film. There were parts of the story that I found interesting, but as a whole I found it convoluted, contrived, and boring.