from hell 2001 movie

[dazz78]

Mary Kelly in From Hell is basically the same character as Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, the 'virgin prostitute' (I think thats the term?) basically a remarkable fresh faced woman who having just started out in prostitution or hasn't yet been cursed with the awfulness of that business. Both get 'rescued' one way or another by a higher class of peope or luck.

Both seem untouched by vices that make their 'colleagues' (can't think of a better word!) stuck in that field, as far as I know Julia Roberts character wasn't a crack addict and Mary Kelly in From Hell is hardly ever seen drunk, or as drunk as the other characters. Plus the fact that they both have long sleek hair straight out of a Timotei advert whilst the others have greasy straggly locks!

But the movie was good though, despite the plot, thats how I got interested in the Jack the Ripper murders.

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

I think the movie was extremely bad and embarrassing even for being fantasy fiction.

All the best

[Chris George]

I think the movie was extremely bad and embarrassing even for being fantasy fiction.

All the best

Hi Glenn

It didn't help that Johnny Depp didn't seem to put any effort into his character. He just kind of sleepwalked through the picture. Oh, okay, of course he was in a drug-induced trance, I know. At least Robbie Coltrane and Godley and Ian Holm as Gull put in some grit in their performances but Depp and Heather Graham were both poor. Again, I blame the Hughes brothers for not putting enough thought into the project in terms of what might have made the movie a unique and quality production. What they produced was a mediocre to so-so flick. And as for the dewy eyed ending with Abberline and Kelly in Never Neverland. Ugh.

Chris

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

Hi Glenn

It didn't help that Johnny Depp didn't seem to put any effort into his character.

Hi Chris,

I remember Stewart telling me that Depp - apparently an obssessive Ripper scholar himself - didn't didn't believe in the nonsense he was participating in, so that could be one explanation for that. Even for a professional actor it must be a tough deal to be forced to squeeze out entyhusiasm out of things you don't really like or agree with. Maybe he should have agreed to the part in the first place?
To be frank, I don't think Depp as such is bad, it is the material they forced him to work with - and the script writers' character assasination of Abberline - that is the problem.

All the best

[BillyE]

To be frank, I don't think Depp as such is bad, it is the material they forced him to work with - and the script writers' character assasination of Abberline - that is the problem.

Here here! I thought the four main actors did great with the sub-par material they had to work with. Even if you were to suspend dis-belief to the point of putting up with the characterization of Abberline as a drug addict, there were too many things in this film that just didn't add up. Forgetting about Eddowes' kidney being sent through the post before Eddowes was dead, I couldn't believe they tried getting away with that poorly constructed hallucination during the final murder. There was no sort of build up to that vision the way there was in the book. True, for the hallucinations in the book to make sense you had to read the appendix for the appropriate chapters, but at least they were available. None of this was explained, not even explained very well in the directors' comentary.

[Chris George]

Hi Chris,

I remember Stewart telling me that Depp - apparently an obssessive Ripper scholar himself - didn't didn't believe in the nonsense he was participating in, so that could be one explanation for that. Even for a professional actor it must be a tough deal to be forced to squeeze out entyhusiasm out of things you don't really like or agree with. Maybe he should have agreed to the part in the first place?
To be frank, I don't think Depp as such is bad, it is the material they forced him to work with - and the script writers' character assasination of Abberline - that is the problem.

All the best

Hi Glenn

I don't know if you have seen Depp's performance in Sweeney Todd but as the demon barber of Fleet Street, he gives a fine performance of a rounded and complex character. I contrast his Sweeney Todd performance to what he did with Abberline in From Hell, which strikes me as superficial and dull by comparison.

Chris

[Glenn Lauritz Andersson]

Hi Chris,

I haven't seen Sweeney Tood, since I am no big fan of musicals, but what you say corroborates quite well with what I've heard as well.

All the best

[Sox]

From Hell was a movie based on a comic, not a documentary of the Ripper killings, nuff said I think