MovieChat Forums > From Hell (2001) Discussion > This film should've put the Hughes Broth...

This film should've put the Hughes Brothers on the map


I thought From Hell was a very good film--fun, stylish, and clever--and it should've done a lot for the Hughes Brothers' careers. This movie clearly showed that they could handle directing a big feature and do it well.

But neither brother has gone on to have a very prolific career.

Together they went on to direct The Book of Eli. And then Albert Hughes made some documentary I've never heard of (We the Economy: 20 Short Films You Can't Afford to Miss). And Allen Hughes made Broken City with Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe.

And that's about it! Strange.

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I recall a lot of public confusion over this film because it was mistaken for a sequel to Sleepy Hollow.

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Where? Retardland?

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Really? I do not remember that.

I guess I could see how that might be the case with both films set around the same time and Depp playing a detective in both, but Jack the Ripper has nothing to do with Sleepy Hollow and the film certainly wasn't advertised as a sequel to Sleepy Hollow.

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No, it wasn't advertised as a sequel, but you point out some of the surface similarities that caused the mix-up. Similar period, Depp's investigator role, somewhat similar dark aesthetic. Some reviews around the time pointed this out. Also it might have had the misfortune of timing, with its release doing decent business for the Halloween season before dropping sharply once the early November films started rolling out. I'll let you guess which did better box office between this film and Monsters Inc.

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This film is very stylish, and it is beautifully designed, with wonderful sets of the Whitechapel streets in poverty-stricken London. And from what I've read, they were scrupulous about recreating the murder scenes, and all those kinds of specifics about the crimes.

However, it's missing something...maybe because Johnny Depp and Heather Graham (who is utterly beautiful and yet always a bit placid) don't really have much chemistry together.

It's also the script...which doesn't have quite the thrill and "oomph" you want, where everything comes to a shrieking climax.

I just remember the film was effective, in its way, but without a real power at the finish.

Certainly a very noble effort, though, with great actors like the late Katrin Cartlidge giving it lots of color.
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My only issue with the script is that the plot is a little convoluted. There are too many characters, some of which are not very well-defined, and the narrative becomes a little too unfocused because of it.

It's probably the kind of film that takes two or three viewings to fully untangle the story.

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The plot never gave me any trouble...it's that there isn't the kind of emotional power we (or most people watching a drama) yearn for in the final stretch, with a feeling that these two unconventional people are specifically saving each other. (I think the ending was reshot and reshuffled several times, trying to get it right. And they never did, quite.)

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I would agree that the ending probably could've been handled in a different, more satisfying way. It seemed that they ultimately should've found a way to be together.

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How a film ends, and delivers its message so all the separate threads come together in a way that's surprising yet organic, seems to me to be the most challenging thing about writing a story (whether its a film, a novel, or whatever.)

Anyone can create a situation, but it's how the situation resolves that's the mark of a really gifted storyteller.
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