This film isn't good

Rating: Null/10 (20 December 2002)

FROM HELL is an elaboration on film based on the graphic novel elaboration by Alan Moore on a very silly book by Stephen Knight entitled Jack the Ripper, the Final Solution, in which the author fantasizes a ridiculously elaborate explanation for the Ripper killings of 1888 based on no evidence whatsoever.
This is not a story, it's a point by point "explanation" of Knight's foolish theory which is historically impossible, logically nonsensical, and possesses no dramatic value at all apart from ONE shot at the very end of the film which is absolutely heartbreaking. That's it, though. That's all you get. After seeing this shot, which is the only free, improvised moment in a completely expositional film, you get the idea that the film has just (finally) begun, then, surprise!, the end credits roll. Shots of the soapy unbelievable backstory (concerning those who were responsible for making the baby which figures into the solution of the case) aren't even given to us. You watch 2 hours and get nothing of genuine historical value and only one moment that makes any kind of dramatic sense. This is not a drama, it's a pseudo-documentary in which we are TOLD what to think, and that information makes no sense. Grapes are rare in Whitechapel, one victim had a grape stalk in her hand, therefore the killer must be a recognized high society gentleman? Jack the Ripper removed some of his victims' organs therefore he "must" be a medical doctor? (These are not spoilers, they are actual conclusions drawn by our hero early on in the film) Give me a break. We have as much reason to conclude positively from this information that he "must" be a cannibalistic fruit stand owner. It would be very nice to see someone try to make a film about the Ripper murders that was free of Royal Conspiracy horse-hockey and truly did try to portray a realistic picture of the place and time which would help explain why these murders really happened. I suppose since so many have embraced Knight's ridiculous fanciful glop as truth we will never see such a thing. Pity.