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From Hell
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (5th November 2007). |
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The Film
 "From Hell" is based on the serialized graphic novel of the same name created by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. The series was published in 10 volumes between 1991 and 1996 with an appendix entitled "From Hell: The Dance of the Gull-Catchers" published in 1998. The series is highly regarded among the comic book industry as a masterwork and to this day continues to sell in frequent numbers. The collected edition which features all the volumes and appendix should be regular fixture on the shelves of comic fans and avid readers. Being a comic book fan myself since childhood, I was introduced to Moore's work through his run on DC comics' "Swamp Thing" and as I grew older sought out darker and more adult themed books such as Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" (a benchmark in comic writing and vision) as well as Moore's definitive books : "The Watchmen" and "V for Vendetta" which remains one of the hardest graphic novels to get through but a worthy and thoroughly satisfying read none-the-less. "From Hell" was yet another impressive addition to his body of work, the graphic novel speculates the true identity of Jack the Ripper and his motivations as being linked to a Royal conspiracy to hide the knowledge of the existence of a baby fathered by Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and mothered by a whore. The baby would become the future heir to the throne of England, something that must not happen. The conspiracy sees Queen Victoria sanctioning the murder of the prostitutes who know of the baby's existence, her loyal surgeon Sir William Gull and a high ramking member of the Freemasons, has been entrusted with the task to murder these women. Throughout the story we are also taken through the investigation lead by Inspector Frederick Abberline. This premise comes from Stephen Knight's theory (although Moore discounts Knight's theory as likely being a hoax, but used it as a starting off point); Knight was an author who wrote books on the Ripper. However for this graphic novel a few alternations were made and they include the reduced involvement of Walter Sickert, Sickert was a painter who was alleged to have take part in the Ripper murders by force and also the child's mother being a Catholic was dropped (but found it's way into the movie). The purpose of the graphic novel was to portray Moore and Campbell's fictional telling of the Ripper story and avoided making it into a clichéd 'whodunit'. They succeeded in creating an atmospheric masterpiece of graphic novel storytelling and the film which adapts itself from the graphic novel took all the aspects in which Moore and Campbell avoided and used that instead. The infamous Moore has had his share of disagreements and arguments with publishers, editors and even the film industry itself. He is famous for being the brooding isolated hermit man of comics distancing himself from any and all adaptations of his work. While "V for Vendetta" (2005) actually turned out into quite good film, I can understand why Moore would distance himself away from "From Hell". The 572 page series already appears as a tough challenge to adapt, but the filmmakers seem to have only borrowed from the graphic novel and lead the production into a different direction. The first change made was the combination of two characters to make up the film version of Inspector Abberline (Johnny Depp). In the graphic novel Abberline was the hard-working and often conflicted cop, in the film he was a psychic who drew visions by getting high on opium or as they say in the film by 'chasing the dragon'. The psychic in the graphic novel was Robert Lees who in the appendix later confessed to Abberline that although his predictions were correct it was all by chance and that his visions were a fraud. So for the film Abberline and Lees are combined and thus giving our hero a psychic ability to piece together the Ripper murders. Another big change is the focus of the mother of the child being Catholic and therefore clashed with the Monarchy's Anglican/Episcopalian beliefs (I suppose). To compress the adaptation into film length a lot was also dropped, including William Gull's (Ian Holm) relationship with his stagecoach driver Netley (Jason Flemyng) which is in itself a crucial element to the murders, the way they were chosen and most importantly the locations of the murders in which Netley had intimate knowledge of but for the film was relegated to a secondary character and shuffled to the corner to make way for the 'whodunit' aspect of the script. In saying that there's a lot of difference and changes made it doesn't always equate to a bad film as almost all adapted works have to be tailored and altered for the screen, however in the case of "From Hell" it turns what could have been a rather effective atmospheric conspiracy thriller rather than what it become - another in a line of procedural investigation films only set in a different era being it's real point of difference from say modern cop shows. I also found the film rather slow and tedious at times, if it wasn't for Depp and Holm I would have been bored by it. Holm is quite excellent in the role of Gull and I really liked how the filmmaker's shot his final murder sequence as he delves into the procedure with his madness in full swing...however the leap from strong willed surgeon into madness was ill-conceived. The rest of the cast do an adequate job although I'm not entirely certain what Heather Graham was doing in this film? Although the thought of her playing a prostitute is no big leap to believe, it's her awful attempt at an accent and her lack of real acting talent that pull you out of the picture every time she appears on screen. The filmmaker's should have gone with an actress of thespian caliber for the role of Mary instead of Graham; she should probably stick to sitcoms (as her appearance on "Scrubs" (2001-present) has to be one of the highlights of her career, seriously no sarcasm there). The film itself looks great, the technical aspects are the strongest points from the visually arresting photography to the sets of late 1800's London, costumes and the attention to small details like the rotting of teeth is a nice touch, in some Hollywood films set in this era you'll notice a lot of people with pearly white teeth, these details may be minor but they make a difference in transporting the viewer into the era. Finally I'm onto the director, or in this case the directors, The Hughes Brothers, Allen and Albert are known for gritty urban gangster films like "Menace II Society" (1993) and "Dead Presidents" (1995) and not period era films based on graphic novels. This is certainly virgin territory for the brothers and it seems like its territory they shouldn't have wondered into even though the technical aspects of the production are excellent it's the script and the direction they chose to go with the film that ultimately hurt it. But in saying that, "From Hell" is not a terrible movie, but anyone that's a fan of the graphic novel will likely be sorely disappointed.
Video
Presented in the film's original 2.35:1 theatrical ratio this transfer is presented in 1080p 24/fps high-definition and has been created using AVC MPEG-4 compression. There's no disappointment here, the high-definition transfer is an excellent image that displays a wonderful sharpness to it that remains consistent. The level of detail in the sets and impressive exteriors used for this film is captured in all its glory with the photography and the image is clear and visible including minor background details such as the textures in the cobblestones and imperfections in skin. The colors are accurately displayed with skin tones appearing natural. Some grain can be seen but nothing that's distracting. Black levels are bold and deep but sometimes the blacks are too heavy and some dimly lit scenes are a little hard to make out. Aside from that it's a great transfer from Fox.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 as well as standard Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in French and Spanish. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD track and this surround effort brings all the bells and whistles and puts your home theater through a tremendous workout. The dialogue is clear and distortion free but the track shines with its aggressive nature and broad range that's able to create depth immersing the viewer in the world these characters live in. Ambience and environmental sounds are effectively used as is effect sounds and directional effects that sound natural and never out of place. The film's score thunderously envelopes the viewer as the murders and visions of our good inspector add to the aggressive nature of the track. Matching the decent picture this track makes a perfect accompaniment to the visuals. Optional subtitles are included in Cantonese, English, Korean and Spanish.
Extras
Fox has released this film with a few of the extras from the DVD release although omitting quite a few from the 2-disc release. This Blu-ray disc comes with an audio commentary, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, a trivia track, the film's theatrical trailer as well as bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up we've got a feature length audio commentary with the film's directors Allen and Albert Hughes, screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, cinematographer Peter Deming and actor Robbie Coltrane. In this track the brothers talk about their involvement in the film stemming back to when it was originally set up at Disney (where they had production deal) and how the original script was very Hollywood in its approach but that they were still interested in making the film. Eventually the film was dropped by Disney and was picked up by Fox where they brought onboard a new writer to re-write the script. This is where Yglesias comes in who originally wanted to remain close to the original graphic novel but knew that would be impossible and therefore a lot of changes were made, he talks about the major changes and on the reasons why they were made. Additionally Cinematographer Deming comments on lighting the picture and keeping a moody aesthetic and in trying to create a 'feel' for the various scenes as well as watching a lot of the old Ripper movies to see what not to do. The filmmakers also comment on deliberately trying to fool the audience with as many red herrings, while Coltrane talks about the era and establishing character traits as well as comments on the Ripper theories and making them realistic but also create some sort of history about the characters that gives them weight as each participant brings something to the table about the production and their various roles in which they played. Next up is a high-definition exclusive trivia track, this track features pop-up information as you view the film, these pop-up facts include historical and geographic facts including things like information about the region in which the murders took place and their significance, the victims, suspects and key people involved in the case as well as production information about the cast and filming among other things. Following that are a collection of 21 deleted scenes which feature optional audio commentary by the film's co-director Albert Hughes who talks about the various scenes and on why they were omitted from the final cut of the film, these scenes can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' feature and includes: - "Sc 11: Mary Takes Baby Alice to Ann's Parents" runs for 58 seconds, unsure about what to do with the baby after Ann was taken away she delivers it to Ann's parents to look after it. - "Sc 25: Girls Working the Streets" runs for 28 seconds, this is a montage of the girls turning tricks. - "Sc 33: Polly's Funeral Procession" runs for 1 minute 23 seconds, Godley talks to Abberline about the newspaper's theory about the Leather Apron Killer as they watch over Polly's funeral. - "Sc 35-36: Abberline's Wife/Dark Annie Dream/Waking up to Dog" runs for 50 seconds, Abberline has a vision and is woken by his dog. - "Sc 40-41: Netley Masturbates/Dark Annie does Sailor" runs for 1 minute 27 seconds, Netley pleasures himself before the leaves and Dark Annie's customer has a thick English accent. - "Sc 49: Dark Annie's Death" runs for 2 minutes 15 seconds, Annie drunkenly flirts with the Ripper before she's killed. - "Sc 61: The Queen and Hallsham" runs for 46 seconds, the Queen is concerned about the time taken to fix their little problem. - "Sc 65 & 67: Netley Writes 'From Hell' Address" runs for 1 minute 27 seconds, the Ripper tells Netley to write a letter. - "Sc 69: Laborers at Ann's Parents' Flat" runs for 45 seconds, Abberline questions Mary about the man that took Ann away. - "Sc 96-100: Crank Letter Montage" runs for 1 minute, a montage of various people writing their own Ripper letters. - "Sc 105: Netley Waits Outside Ten Bells runs for 38 seconds, Netley surveys around Ten Bells identifying the next victim for the Ripper. - "Sc 114-116: Netley Waits Outside Ten Bells/Abberline Has Dream about Ripper/Godley Wakes Abberline from his Dream" runs for 1 minute 27 seconds, Netley drives the Ripper to the bar while Abberline has another vision in which Godley questions him about. - "Sc 119: Liz Bumps into Netley" runs for 52 seconds, Netley contracts the services of Liz. - "Sc 123: Abberline gets out of Coach/Godley says 'This is it'" runs for 44 seconds, Abberline exists Godley's coach without saying a word. - "Sc 129-132: Netley Confronted by Constable/Abberlines Walks Down Street/Abberline gets back into Coach" runs for 2 minutes 11 seconds, a constable spots Netley in the alley as Abberline walks around the street as police search the alleys when Godley informs him of another victim being found. - "Sc 136: Kate Looks in Bar Window" runs for 23 seconds, Kate frantically searches for Liz. - "Sc 149: Netley sees Abberline go into Ten Bells" runs for 30 seconds, Netley sees the Inspector enter the bar in which he leaves the letter for Mary. - " Sc 155 & 159-166: McQueen Threatens Mary Kelly/Godley and Abberline in Library/Netley Follows Ada" runs for 2 minutes 12 seconds, McQueen confronts Mary about the money he owes her and Godley wakes Abberline from his sleep at the library as Netley stalks Ada in the alley. - "Sc 172: Netley Drives Coach Past Church" runs for 18 seconds, this is a quick shot of the coach driving quickly past a church. - "Sc 191: Netley Strangled" runs for 48 seconds, Netley is killed while he's masturbating. - "Sc 196A: Alternate Ending - Shanghai into Opium Den" runs for 1 minute 52 seconds, years later we find Abberline dead in an opium den in Shanghai. Rounding out the extras is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 21 seconds.
Overall
While the film may have its flaws the technical aspects of this disc are superb, however it's disappointing that not all the extras seen on the previous 2-disc DVD haven't been ported over to this release.
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