From Hell

Ever since I saw this film in 2001, I have always had really mixed feelings about it.

The story concerns Inspector Abberline (Johnny Depp), an opium-addicted flatfoot who is on the trail of Jack the Ripper. In the middle of the chaos, he falls in love with Mary Kelly (Heather Graham), an Irish prostitute who may or may not be the Ripper's next target.

The Hughes brothers (Albert and Allen) really did a beautiful job directing this. Their vision of London is dark, glossy, and... red. The colors literally pop off the screen.

Technically, this is a beautiful movie. The cinematography, costumes, art direction, score, are all top-notch. It's the script I have issues with. Admittedly, there are many intense scenes, but there are a few points that prevent this from being an outstanding horror entry.

First of all, I never really bought the romance between Abberline and Mary, considering that they only have a couple of scenes together. The emotional punch of the story depends on whether or not we care about them, which brings me to my nextpoint. While Mary gets a credible backstory, very little is learned about Abberline.

Despite Depp's best efforts, he remained an enigma to me throughout. Finally, the film ruins one of greatest mysteries of all time: The identity of Jack the Ripper. It's bad enough that I saw the twist early on in the movie.

I watch this movie from time to time, constantly amazed by many of the elements that I named before. On the other hand, I galvanize over what the movie would have been like, had there been a rewrite or two. What are your thoughts?

That's how my parents felt about it, too.

Whose idea was it to cast Graham in the first place? She has proved that when she's good, she's really good ("Boogie Nights"). But, this part just wasn't for her.

Read the graphic novel the movie's taken from. It's heads and shoulders above the movie and probably the most meticulously researched (and footnoted) interpretaion of the story available.