Directors Allen and Albert Hughes use skillful artistic vision to create the haunting, fancifully dark atmosphere of "From Hell" that rests atop a mystery which can almost be called intelligent. The new Fox thriller is not merely a jumpy, gory Halloween movie, but one where Johnny Depp tangles with Jack the Ripper. The filmmaking is emotionally powerful, though the story is unbalanced and could use a bit of careful development.
"From Hell" opens in the dreary Whitechapel district of London, 1888, where dark alleys are cluttered with disease and grime, violent men and prostitutes. The film casts Depp as Fred Abberline, the police inspector who trails the bodies left by the mysterious killer. His keen talent for investigation is made possible by his frightening slew of delirious, opium-induced intuitions. Working with prostitute Mary Kelly, played by Heather Graham - whose friends are being hacked by the Ripper - and court physician Sir William Gull, played by Ian Holm, Abberline uncovers pieces of a hidden royal scandal. Underhanded connections between the royal family, the clan of Freemasons, scientific discoveries and class wars lead Abberline into a dark web of broken morals - in the center of which stands Jack the Ripper.
"From Hell" is based on a 1999 novel by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, which tosses around these varied conspiracies. The movie has no major historical basis, though its scandals are intriguing. Unfortunately, the story is overly focused on skewed elements that render the film too vague and underdeveloped.
Without exposing the identity of Jack the Ripper until the end of the film, it is difficult for the story to delve into a deep psychological profile of the killer in relation to these royal cover-ups. And since so much of the film is dedicated to establishing these complex theories - not to mention sequencing the killings themselves - character development in Abberline and Kelly suffer as well.
At the very least, we are close to understanding the inspector and are given clues about his personality between close-ups of his opium addiction and waltzes with absinthe and laudanum. We know, for example, that he is a widower who lost his wife while she was giving birth. But this does not give us a full picture of his character, and what is lacking involves the psychology of Abberline's inextricable attachment to the murders.
There are even subtle suggestions that Abberline himself may be the Ripper - a profoundly interesting opportunity for the film to investigate the nature of Abberline's psychic visions. However, none of this ever comes very close to the forefront.
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Our knowledge of character is certainly not robust enough to forgive the sudden love affair that occurs between Abberline and the prostitute Kelly. By no means is there any kind of evidence that we should understand why this love affair is so intensely passionate after just the few meetings that the two share.
Kelly herself is really less of a character than a device to drive the investigation of murder and scandal, though the group of prostitutes she belongs to is, of course, the Ripper's carefully chosen group of victims. The casting of Graham as Kelly, the hooker with the heart of gold, is probably the worst mistake the creators of "From Hell" could have made. Though Kelly is a wispy character, she is important, and with a further developed story she could have been quite powerful. Nonetheless, as the film stands, a talented actress could have brought forth the nuances of Kelly's ghostly existence quite beautifully. Instead, Graham seems to use her screen time being preoccupied with the recital of lines in her god-awful fake Irish accent. For the vast majority of the film, Graham delivers an unsatisfyingly flat character. It also is annoying that Kelly is the only shiny-clean whore in the bunch.
There also was a typical, eye-rolling scatter of Hollywood moments that the film would have been fine without. Jack the Ripper's sinister, faceless, throaty voice just seems silly. Anyone with the sense of a pigeon - even a starving hooker - would know better than to get into a carriage with that creep. Theoretically Jack the Ripper had success in killing by using charm to lure his victims, not a big neon sign that says, "I'm about to cut your throat baby!"
I also was frustrated with the incredibly gratuitous lesbianism that existed within the group of prostitutes. There was no bearing in the story for it, but it was simply an embellishment of male sexual fantasy that was quietly tossed into the film. Perhaps it was Hollywood's way of making up for the relative lack of gore that a horror movie is supposedly formulated to contain, but it remained a terribly irritating distraction.
Though there were quite a few things that could have been done differently in the film, "From Hell" must be given credit for its artistic quality: its shady ambience and visual excellence. The Hughes brothers clearly understand the dynamics of filmmaking and use their talent to its fullest capacity. Not a frame goes by without somehow connecting the camera and scene movements to the ultimate heart of the movie. The setting, costumes and general atmosphere of "From Hell" were, for the most part, unfaltering and gave a satisfyingly authentic feeling.
And Depp, in yet another film, did a nice job playing a drug addict.
