Movies

It's 1888 London haunted by Jack the Ripper. Mary Kelly (Heather Graham) is a prostitute in the Whitechapel District. Her friend Ann Crook has a baby and a rich mystery patron. Ann gets kidnapped while others are getting killed. Mary Kelly hides the baby. Police Inspector Frederick Abberline (Johnny Depp) has visions which help in his brilliant investigations with his partner Peter Godley (Robbie Coltrane). Sir William Gull (Ian Holm) is a physician to the Royals and a respected medical teacher.I love the dark, murky, brutal style. It's fitting for the times and the subject matter. The story is a bit disjointed which I like for this movie. It's a jumble of pieces from two sides of a story coming together. It is bloody and ominous. Granted, the story doesn't flow smoothly but the style more than makes up for it.

"From Hell", yet another "Jack the Ripper" flick, is somewhat over wrought with lavish cinematography imbuing what we'd like to believe is a bleak and dank Whitechapel District of London with richness; a street whore protagonist (Graham) somehow insulting in her sweetness; and a Scotland Yard sleuth (Depp) uncharacteristically dashing considering his beginning and his end. In spite of these and many other foibles, the Hughes bros and company have breathed life into the old and moldy "Ripper" lore with a film which propagates still another hypothesis, a somewhat interesting and entertaining story though more of a curiosity and a conquest. Worth a look especially for those who are unfamiliar with good ol' "Jack's" tall tale.