Rating: 
Summary: A mixed (black) bag
Review: Since childhood, I have been fascinated by Jack the Ripper, probably the first serial killer who shamelessly courted the media and was never caught, a legend in his own time. There have been innumerable books, films, tv shows, plays, and a full-length illustrated book based on the exploits of "Bloody Jack". The illustrated book was entitled "From Hell", on which this film is based. "From Hell" to me is disappointing fare. It's certainly not bad, but it's not very satisfying, either. Which is a shame, because there are many good elements in it. The atmosphere of 1880s London, particularly the seedy Whitechapel district in which the murders took place, has been evocatively recreated. The Hughes brothers took great pains to recreate the murder sites in uncanny detail. Also, little tidbits like paying a small fee to sleep on a rope in a flophouse (several people would lean on a rope and sleep, being too poor to even afford a bed for a night)add to the film's gritty atmosphere. However, the film suffers from too many arty flourishes and heavy-handed attempts at social commentary that diminish the film's power. Yes, there was class, race and religious discrimination in Victorian London, but these subjects are perfunctorily referred to in the film, and then swallowed up by the "slice and dice" activities. Inspector Abberline's opium-induced visions of the murders are filmed in a blaring music video fashion that remind the viewer that he is "watching a movie", undermining whatever tension and emotional identification one might have with the subject matter. The sequences with "The Elephant Man" do not add to the film, either. He's brought in as a colorful curiosity, then disappears just as abruptly, so one wonders, "Why did they bother?" A lot of the facts have been inextricably been mixed up with a lot of preposterous rehashed theories, such as the identity of the Ripper (The film draws largely from the 1988 made-for-tv miniseries with Michael Caine), and the ludicrous theory of the Ripper being driven around in an ominous horsedrawn black coach never held much water (or blood)for me. There were never any reports or even suspicions of said coach-this is purely amateur sleuth conjecture. Conspiracy theories abound in this film, a viewpoint that, in my opinion, has worn out its welcome. Why are so many people surprised that the Jack the Ripper was never caught? A lot of murderers are never caught, nor do they have lofty motives-they are simply bloodthirsty! The performances are, for the most part, unremarkable. Johnny Depp is good as the opium-dabbling Inspector Abberline, though the character has been fictionalized to the point of unrecognizability. Depp also looks somewhat out of place historically, along with Heather Graham-they look like escapees from a Kenneth Cole ad. The supporting players look pretty convincing in their Victorian clothes and hairstyles, but Mr. Depp looks like a member of a grunge band, and Ms. Graham, with her Jessica Rabbit hairdo and flawless ivory skin, looks too contemporary and clean-she doesn't even have a symbolic smudge of dirt on her cheek! The other performers, including Ian Holm as Sir William Gull, Queen Victoria's physician, are good, but this isn't a film about characterizations-the roles are pretty much two-dimensional Victorian paper dolls. I think what ultimately disappointed me was the film's viewpoint. It couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to be an out and out shocker, or a piece of social commentary, rendering it centerless and ultimately unsatisfying.
The picture quality and color are beautiful and vivid on this DVD, and the sound is top-notch. The musical score is of the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" variety, with those annoying deafening "door-slamming" sounds whenever a victim or potential victim is accosted-a musical cliche that gets on my nerves. The extra features on the 2nd disc are a mixed bag of tricks, but the feature on Absinthe, that popular 19th Century semi-narcotic drink is interesting, and the documentary featuring Ripper maven Donald Rumbelow makes for interesting watching. "From Hell" is a fairly entertaining but empty and forgettable 2 hours, a film that should have had a policeman on hand to see that it didn't stray from its duties.
Rating: 
Summary: best movie ever
Review: best movie i have ever seen. i love this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: conspiracy theory
Review: I don't know much about the context surrounding perhaps the first serial killer of this modern age, but his story sure makes a good movie. My expectations concerning this movie were not great, mostly I feared that Johnny Depp would play another character more or less identical to the bookish, curious self-absorbed loner he played in the Ninth Gate and Sleepy Hollow. I guess the inspector he plays is similar, but the Hughes Brothers know how to make a movie. Better than Menace to Society, I was enraptured throughout by the mood of dread and mystery. It was a neat detective story that managed to avoid cliches associated with the genre (a credit to the Hughes brothers). Whether or not Queen Victoria's son married a prostitute, and the stone masons are a satanic cult, this movie really gets you by the throat and entertains the [heck] out of you.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Amazing!
Review: A more then perfect dipiction of Jack The Ripper, this film aside from being one of the years top films will keep you on the edge of your seat!
From Hell is a classic who done it, with a surprising ending that will likely blow you away!
Casting, set design is completely amazing, and the second bonus feature disk is jam packed with tones of extra's including a documentary on the real Jack The Ripper!
From Hell is one of the best who done it/horror movies I have seen in a very long time! Definately worth the cost of the limited edition!
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Blech
Review: This movie was so dissappointing. The whole movie annoyed me, but the most annoying part was the stupid background music that played all through the film. And it got louder and louder and louder! The "Ripper" theory was [weak] and I agree with other posters--BORING. Heather Graham's clipped British accent fails when all the other prostitutes have a cockney accent. Don't waste your money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: The film itself is good. But the commentary is pathetic.
Review: Probably one of the best commentary jobs I've ever seen (and heard) was Mel Gibson's commentary on Braveheart. Well done and informative, Mel remained silent for minutes at a time, letting the film tell the story. When he spoke, his comments were apposite, brief, and goodhumored. He singled out other actors , the director and photographer for praise, and he worked in many facts regarding the making of the film, or the historical background of the props used, and their authenticity (or lack thereof). In contrast, the Hughes Brothers' commentary is selfindulgent, obscenity-laced, boring , and largely pointless. They talked over all but about a dozen lines, and were still rambling on after the end credits were running. Most of their comments relied heavily on the word "I" . Few of their remarks shed any light on the things one would most have liked to learn more about : The viewer sees terrible, horrifying images on the screen, and we hear the Hughes Brothers ramble on with verbiage totally unrelated to the horrific imagery : "I loved Europe ; I hate Hollywood; I-I-I-I-I-I-". To the viewer, the story is what matters ; to these two, it's all about them. It might have been much better to have Moore, Gibbon, and Yglesias comparing their treatment of plot twists, as opposed to hearing the Hughes Brothers express their oh-so-fascinating and trendy disdain for Hollywood accounting people. By the way : Don't take at face value the one commentator's "history" of the Masons, which relies on urban legends, myths , and outright falsehoods. The Masons cannot be traced back "thousands of years", and anyone who thinks that only the masons had architectural skills through those long centuries is displaying woeful ignorance of the architectural skill of the Greeks , Romans, the Chinese, the Indians, the mesoAmericans.... Disc Two is a little better. To one who is not familiar with the Jack the Ripper case, the study of what facts are known in this case will be useful. To 'ripperologists', it's all pretty familiar territory. < As for the film itself, it is good as a whodunnit, though hardly as history. It manages to make even squalor look picturesque. I give the film 3 stars, but the graphic novel 5,and I recommend the book to anyone who enjoyed the film.
Rating:
Summary: A bad history lesson, but a good film...
Review: For "Ripper" enthusiasts this story will never be good, but for people who don't know the "Ripper" tale very well it will be. The fact that we find out who the ripper is will be enough for ripper fans to hate this film. The real "Jack the Ripper" was never caught, and that is one of the reasons his story endures. This movie reminded me of the movie "Tombstone" with Kurt Russell, or "Braveheart" with Mel Gibson, where history had to give way to the drama. There were bits and pieces of history interwoven into the story, but in most of it creative license was taken for a more dramatic effect. We have the same thing in "From Hell". The writer(s) pretty much took every theory about the Whitechapel murders and threaded them into the story, giving people a great number of suspects to be suspicious of, and keeping us on our toes until we finally know who the sicko is. The movie is well acted and well shot. The Hughes brothers take their urban style background with movies like "Menace II Society" and "Dead Presidents" and apply it well to turn-of-the-century England in one of the worst areas of London, probably a worse hell-hole than present-day South Central Los Angeles. It works well. Those of you who know the ripper story wont find much tension here, as the movie does historically conform to the order of the killings, so when you see Polly Nichols walk past the "Buck's Row" sign you know what's about to happen. But any audience of a thriller like this, where a woman is walking alone at night, should be expecting the same thing. As someone who knows the story this movie didn't scare me at all, but it was very entertaining. Johnny Depp did his job well, as did Heather Graham and the rest of the cast. I recommend this film to those of you who aren't familiar with the facts surrounding the Whitechapel murders. If you are, this movie will be slow and maybe even insulting as the reviewer before me expressed.
Rating:
Summary: It was Hell to watch
Review: At first seeing the previews for From Hell I thought of a great movie depiciting the murders of Jack the Ripper. This movie falls short of anything to do with Jack the Ripper. From Hell is about Depps drug addiction and his love for a hooker. Both the Characters and the plot are thin as paper. Small bits of info are given throughout the movie leading to nothing. I and my friends were completely bored. Once people start getting up and begin talking you know a movie has fallen short of what it set out to accomplish. I keep looking at my watch just waiting for it to end. Rent but only in need of a movie.
Rating:
Summary: For Real
Review: A previous review groused about the unlikeliness of Stephen Knights' Final Solution as a plot element. Yes the Final Solution does strain crediblity, especially when you consider Gull (Holm's Character) was well into his seventies, but the Hughes addressed this with element of insanity. This film features the most authentic recreation of the Whitechapel Murderers handiwork ever committed to the big screen. The European setting, the custom built Whitechapel set, the excellent casting, acting, sound, and layering of content make this more than a competant effort. What did the Hughes Brothers in a the box office was an even more horrendous event than Whitechapel, September 11. The timing of releasing a darkly toned, foriegn set, period peice police procedural could not have been worse. Plus, when you consider the target audience being educated, mostly male (sorry, ladies), crime buffs, it is a wonder that it was #1 for a week.
The Brothers are making an audacious statement here about The Man, and being a egalitarian caucasian, myself, I agree. At the time of the actual murders, the conditions in Whitechapel were an example of how ineptly western society dealt with its foriegner/poor. The implication of the Royal Order of Freemasons only serves to highlight the dichotomy in caste between the wealthy and the down-trodden, especially in the light of what the elite will do to maintain thier status. The verismilitude of the production make it knife sharp in its attempt to portray a type of society that existed then in Great Britain, and that still exists in the World now on a grander scale. Johnny Depp follows up in a perfect way from his Sleepy Hollow mold. The only two points of contention that I have are minor. The contacts were too large on Holm and looked a tad silly, rather that menacing. When the bed in Kelleys room was moved for the final(?) murder, it took away from an important identification that Ripperologist needed from this film. That is, the imfamous Kelley Crime Scene photograph being one of first, and still on of the most appalling visions ever beheld, was denied its truth and effect here, and no matter how much the director desired to throw a door-way shadow across the bed, the horror of the Kelly Murder over shadows the entire case, and deserved a movie in itself. Hats off to the brothers for one HELL of a slash at it.
Rating:
Summary: Very well done
Review: Honestly, this movie is one of the best horror films I've seen in a long time. It's dark, stylish, and has a decent plot (in truth, the plot is very good.) This film has some very good points, like the twisting story-line, the realistic aspect, the creepy views into 1880's society, and some interesting facts. The DVD has some great special features, including the six degrees of Jack the Ripper, a look at the victims and suspects. The one problem I had with the movie was that the killing scenes were too short, and the shots of the bodies didn't last long enough. Overall, it's worth a look and is very entertaining.
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