From Hell

Just managed to watch this on DVD. Didn't get to see it when it was in the cinemas. Got it mainly because Alan Moore (one of my favourite comicbook writers) wrote the story. And, hell, don think I missed much.

The theory is interesting, although hardly plausible. The five prostitutes never knew each other. The conspiracy theory elements seems to be lifted from the Princess Di accident, although I wonder if the graphic novel was the source or a rip-off of said theories.

I was always fascinated with Jack the Ripper but to have it all spelled out so factually in your face just dims the mystique. To top it all off, the gore is subdued as if to avoid an NC-17 rating. Out of focus images of the corpses, inoffensive camera angles of autopsies just merely belittle the viciousness of Jack and the visceral shock of the murders. I was more disturbed by the actual released press photos. Only a brutal throat-slashing manages to capture his brutality.

Otherwise, I doubt the Special Branch is THAT malevolent. But it adds up to the general paranoia of the pigs so prevalent in Moore's work (see V for Vendetta).

Kudos for the excellent camerawork and set design, though. Johnny Depp's acting is pretty much hit and miss and I could do without the faux English accent. My favourite parts of the movie is that captures the social atmosphere of London, though not so much of that era (1888) but currently, especially the phrases - "You all right, mate?". So anachronistic?