From Hell - ACE Train Movie Review

In 1888, a ruthless and cold-blooded killer begins hunting prostitutes in East London, and while the murderer's work is savage, the mutilation of his victims suggests the fiend has an extensive medical background. Amidst a background of political unrest and barely contained scandal among the royal family, the murderer's grisly exploits shock and frighten all of England, and one of Scotland Yard's top inspectors, Fred Abberline, is put on the case, along with his partner, Peter Godley. As Abberline and Godley investigate the neighborhood where the crimes occur, they become acquainted with the prostitutes and street people who were friends and compatriots of the victims, and Abberline finds himself falling in love with Mary Kelly, a beautiful Irish streetwalker. As Abberline tries to identify the killer before Mary Kelly can become the next victim, he and Godley have to contend with Sir Charles Warren, their superior who is keen to pin the murders on a culprit who isn't British, and Sir William Gull, a respected physician who has his own ideas about the murders and the benefits of psychosurgery.

This film was OK - nothing special. The story of Jack the Ripper is fascinating because the killer did his dirty work in semi-public places, but was never caught. Similar to the more recent Zodiac Killer, there were several suspects that could have been the killer, but nobody was ever brought to justice. The film was speculative and was based on the graphic novel by the same name, but it didn't do the story justice. It was pretty bland and not full of the type of emotion I would expect from a case of this magnitude. Johnny Depp and Heather Graham didn't do a bad job, but I just wasn't drawn into the story and wasn't on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next. Seeing that the graphic novel was award winning and good enough to inspire a film, maybe I should have just read that.

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.