From Hell

Interestingly, when Joe asked me if I wanted to watch "From Hell", I said yes. Those of you who read my top ten list of movies I wouldn't watch know that there is a fine distinction between those movies I enjoy and the ones I refuse to see. But several reasons made me interested in this. First of all, I like Johnny Depp. Actually, that's the main reason. I'm also interested in Alan Moore, who wrote the graphic novel that the movie is based on. The movie turned out to be quite entertaining, and not extremely graphic, though there is a lot of blood. The killings are swift and handled fairly well. However, the ending was ruined for both myself and Joe, as the film swerved away from the book, from history, and from any narrative sense, and (SPOILER ALERT) managed to produce a somewhat happy ending. No, Johnny doesn’t get the girl, but the very fact that the girl is spared rather than butchered spoils the movie’s credibility as a serious adaptation. I told you there’d be some spoiling!