From Hell

I cannot say that I am an outright fan of old era British crime stories but I do fancy them now and then. This one is a rather dark, grim and gloomy story perfectly suitable as a evening movie at this time of the year when darkness already starts to come quickly and matches the candlelight mood of Victorian London. I found this a quite nice movie. Well up to its very end which I have to admit is way too tragic for my taste. The voyage to the end was well worth watching though. The dark scenery is very well done. Beautiful and depressing at the same time. It is yet another Jack the Ripper based story and it is pretty much pure fiction loosely based on the character of Jack the Ripper. It is a good and well implemented story though and it was enjoyable to follow Inspector Abelard unravel to true reason behind the murders. As far as I am concerned the acting was without any major faults and generally of high standard although it is perhaps a bit sad that Johnny Depp again proves that he plays best in roles that portrays a more or less crazy, even insane, character. The movie is not as gory as one perhaps and it certainly would not classify as a horror movie. Most of the violence is hidden from the viewer although there are a couple of scenes which are a wee bit “splattery” but only if you really have a weak stomach for these things and if you do perhaps you should not watch serial killer movies in the first place. The ending took a star or two off this movies rating but otherwise it was surprisingly enjoyable.

I went into this having only seen 'The Book of Eli' by these directors, The Hughes Brothers. I quite liked that film, although I did feel their vivacious stylizations interfered with the telling of the story. Seeing this earlier film of theirs confirmed that suspicion, though it's still a fine film. Though Johnny Depp (the brothers' 5th choice for the lead) does a fine job as the film's protagonist (I haven't read Alan Moore's graphic novel yet, so I can't say how this filmic adaptation compares), it certainly would have been interesting to see how any of their previous choices would have done (in order of their preference): Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Connery, Jude Law and Brad Pitt (but especially either of the first two). It has a fine supporting cast, is beautiful to look at and is consistently intriguing. I especially liked Heather Graham (I think this is solidly amongst her best work), Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane and, most significantly, Katlin Cartlidge. Boy, do I ever miss her in films made ever since.