FROM HELL (2001) / ***
Directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes. Screenplay by Terry Hayes and
Rafael Yglesias, based on the comic book series by Alan Moore and Eddie
Campbell. Starring Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Robbie Coltrane. Running
time: 122 minutes. Rated R by the MFCB. Reviewed on October 22nd, 2001.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
Synopsis: Whitechapel, 1888: Jack the Ripper is stalking prostitutes, all
of them friends of Mary Kelly (Graham). What does this have to do with
Mary's missing friend Alice and her strange husband Albert? With the royal
surgeon William Gull (Ian Holm) and his fascination with lobotomy? With
one of England's most secretive societies? With the royal family itself?
Only prescient Inspector Abberline (Depp) and his partner Godley
(Coltrane) stand between London and the mouth of Hell.
Review: "From Hell" is inspired by a graphic novel, and its roots are
clear. Like Depp's "Sleepy Hollow", "From Hell" is a visual triumph.
Victorian London is well-represented on film, but rarely has its seedy
underbelly been so evocatively brought to life. Here, the Hughes brothers
offer a movie filled with potent images: the night sky over London tinted
blood red, a lobotomy obscenely performed like a stage show. Around this
carnival of the bizarre, Hayes and Yglesias offer an engaging retelling of
the Ripper mythos, drawing on some of the more audacious theories about
the crime. Those familiar with Ripper lore will have little trouble
unraveling the plot but here the play's the thing, not the outcome. "From
Hell" plays on our enduring fascination with Jack to lure us in and hold
us tight. Several credible supporting performances enhance the experience,
particularly Coltrane's resigned Godley, the perfect foil to the ethereal
Abberline, and Holm as the intense but frail Gull. Depp's character is
never quite drawn clearly enough, and Graham seems a little too refined
for a Whitechapel prostitute, but both do an inoffensive job all the same.
Fundamentally, "From Hell" is just a slasher movie, but one which is not
devoid of artistic merit. And it is a compelling reminder of why Jack the
Ripper remains one of history's most captivating and horrific mysteries.
Copyright © 2001 Shannon Patrick Sullivan.
Archived at The Popcorn Gallery,
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html
| Shannon Patrick Sullivan | shannon@mun.ca |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
/ Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) go.to/drwho-history \
\__ We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars __/
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X-RT-AuthorID: 1699
X-RT-RatingText: 3/4
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