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From Hell(2001)

Rating out of 5 possible lobsters :

"Only the legend will survive"

From Hell, based on a novel from Alan Moore. A novel I have never read but may want to now after witnessing  the horrific directionless From Hell movie. They say the book is always better and in this case it would be almost impossible for the book to be any worse than the  movie version of From Hell!!!

Johnny Depp plays a dope smoking Inspector named Abberline who can foresee crimes before they happen.  Abberline finds himself on the case of one 'Jack the Ripper' who has an appetite for hookers(but who doesn't really) and a even greater love for disection. After discovering the link between all the  murders, Abberline must find and stop the killer before his new 'girlfriend', Mary Kelly(Heather Graham),  ends up like her fellow whores, a bloody mess!

Honestly I could barely stay awake. The story didn't add up and the dialogue between any of the characters seems way out of context on a historical level. I still can't understand what the purpose of Depp's characer being able to foresee crimes was? Sure it looked cool on the screen for him to have acid trip dreams and see someone get mangled but it added nothing to the story. Once he knows who the killer is it doesn't matter that he dreamed that last murder. It doesn't take a master mind to realize who the killer is after next and  that it's Depp's love interest. That's just typical Hollywood bull shit. Even the previous murders prior to the ending, why did Depp dream any of them? His visions did nothing to help him solve the case or save any lives.

The ability to forsee death must just be a pro-drug message. Well I wish I got stoned Thursday night so I could  have foreseen how awful this movie was going to be. Not even the brutal death scenes satisfied me. Sure  the movie was ultra-gross and Johnny Depp's acting was second to none, but that  isn't enough to make a From Hell any good. If they shaved 20 minutes of the run-time, made Depp's dreams sequences an important part of his investation and made the killer a bit more hard to figure out  we could have had a wicked movie here!

Bottom line: From Hell is all show and no go!!!

Henry's Comments

 "Lesson for the kids... Smoking dope doesn't help you solve your problems but it sure makes you look cool!"