The Ripper

October 21, 2001

Caught From Hell tonight.

It’s a pretty nifty little thriller for the average viewer, I think. Adapted from Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s work of utter genius, the Hughes Brothers’ celluloid version definitely pales in comparison. The book is a 500 page monster, each page busting with information. Despite being set up for a visual medium, it’s not an easily adaptable work.

The film takes the main ideas of the book and restructures it into a whodunnit with a standard Hollywood love story stuck on. The Hughes Brothers may have actually hurt themselves by being too faithful to the book. They try and squeeze too many of the subplots and everything feels very rushed and glossed over. The first hour jumps from place to place, and most of the people I was with had a hard time seeing how everything fit together. The mad conspiracy laid out by Alan Moore was insanely complex, and the film does it a disservice by rushing through it.

Ultimately, the film is a nice way to pass an evening, and it definitely holds up as a good Ripper film, but not much more. The beauty of Moore’s work is the remarkable detail and painstaking research, and all of that is lost in this adaptation.

Posted in Moving Pictures