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I believe that overall, this is the best movie version yet about the "Jack The Ripper" serial murders. It is well photographed, the sets are historically accurate, and there are some thought-provoking moments (I've long been fascinated by the Ripper and other select historical events like the Titanic sinking).
The film does present what is becoming one of the more popular theories about these unsolved murders. It is however one that many citizens of Britain find offensive. Enough said about that.
Even though I believe everyone knows that this is a story based on some particularly gruesome murders of prostitutes, I'll say it: This movie has almost explicit sex, murder, total frontal nudity, and completely explicit drug use - it is not for kids. It's one of those films that stretches the current bounds of an "R" rating - I would not want to see an unrated version.
I can think of several actors whom I would rather have seen in the male lead other than Johnny Depp. He is too young, too short, and too contemporary in his attitudes and dialogue to convincingly portray a 19th Century Police Inspector. However, I was all too ready to believe he was a major drug user, even though I still find it not credible that a Police Inspector would be such. (I have probably been predjudiced against him since seeing an interview about his role in the film Blow where he enthusiasticly talked about George Jung, the cocaine smuggler he portrayed in that film.)
Aside from Depp's performance and whomever it was who made the mistake of casting him in the role, there isn't much to criticize about From Hell. If serial murderers hold any fascination for you, you'll probably like this film.
Technically this is a 2.35:1 aspect ratio with both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. There is a second disk entirely composed of Special Features which I did not have time to view. I did watch the over 20 deleted scenes and the alternate ending on the first disk, and IMHO the edit was well done, nothing to be gained by including any of them in the film. I did not notice any Edge Enhancement but frankly most scenes are set at night and quite a few in fog - you would not be able to tell anyway.
Reccomended as a renter.
Gary
The film does present what is becoming one of the more popular theories about these unsolved murders. It is however one that many citizens of Britain find offensive. Enough said about that.
Even though I believe everyone knows that this is a story based on some particularly gruesome murders of prostitutes, I'll say it: This movie has almost explicit sex, murder, total frontal nudity, and completely explicit drug use - it is not for kids. It's one of those films that stretches the current bounds of an "R" rating - I would not want to see an unrated version.
I can think of several actors whom I would rather have seen in the male lead other than Johnny Depp. He is too young, too short, and too contemporary in his attitudes and dialogue to convincingly portray a 19th Century Police Inspector. However, I was all too ready to believe he was a major drug user, even though I still find it not credible that a Police Inspector would be such. (I have probably been predjudiced against him since seeing an interview about his role in the film Blow where he enthusiasticly talked about George Jung, the cocaine smuggler he portrayed in that film.)
Aside from Depp's performance and whomever it was who made the mistake of casting him in the role, there isn't much to criticize about From Hell. If serial murderers hold any fascination for you, you'll probably like this film.
Technically this is a 2.35:1 aspect ratio with both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. There is a second disk entirely composed of Special Features which I did not have time to view. I did watch the over 20 deleted scenes and the alternate ending on the first disk, and IMHO the edit was well done, nothing to be gained by including any of them in the film. I did not notice any Edge Enhancement but frankly most scenes are set at night and quite a few in fog - you would not be able to tell anyway.
Reccomended as a renter.
Gary
