In theaters

FROM HELL. Directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes. Written by Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesias. Running time 137 minutes. Rated R.

Albert and Allen Hughes’ “From Hell” wouldn’t be nearly as effective without its dark, richly effective atmosphere, which is soaked in a heady mix of Gothic and Victorian excess.

From its claustrophobic shots of gaslit streets, blood-red skies, freshly cut corpses, and syphilitic whores slinking in the slums of London’s Whitechapel district circa 1888, the film is a violent mood letter sent to shock the senses.

Inspired by the story of Jack the Ripper, the legendary psychopath who terrorized London for 10 weeks in 1888, “From Hell” is a speculative account of who Ripper was and why he went on his bloody killing spree, gutting five prostitutes before vanishing to become one of history’s favored enigmas.

Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Terry Hayes, the film follows Frederick Abberline (Johnny Depp), an opium-addicted inspector from Scotland Yard whose trippy dreams have the power of helping him solve crimes.

Because of his psychic gift, Abberline is enlisted to track down Ripper, who’s viciously murdering prostitutes for their genitalia, which he brutally removes for a gruesome keepsake.

But why a keepsake? As the body count rises and the blood begins to flow, Abberline’s investigation takes him to the highs and lows of London society, where he infiltrates a secret group of Freemasons, befriends Queen Victoria’s physician (Ian Holm), and meets a pretty prostitute named Mary (Heather Graham) who – if Ripper has his way – won’t be flashing her angelic smile for long.

A film that looks this great can’t help building expectations; certainly, you hope, the quality will extend to the characters, performances and story. But with the exception of a few individual scenes, “From Hell” never rises to the brilliance of its cinematography or to the superbness of it sets; it may look otherwise, but it’s never anything more than a camp melodrama filled with cartoonish characters straight out of “Sweeny Todd.”

At 137 minutes, it’s too long by a third, meandering when it should race, racing when it should linger. But where the film truly sinks is when it reveals Ripper’s identity, which has the stink of unlikeliness all over it.

Depp and Graham are problematic – there isn’t a moment when their romance doesn’t feel like a Hollywood contrivance. They have no chemistry together, no spark, which isn’t much of a surprise considering their one-dimensional characters are as soulless as Ripper himself.

Grade: C-

On video and DVD

FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN. Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. Written by Sakaguchi, Al Reinert and Jeff Vintar. Running time 105 minutes. Rated PG-13.

Hironobu Sakaguchia’s “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” is a paradox, a film that’s at once exhilarating yet exhausting, thrilling yet boring.

Its apocalyptic story of a ruined Earth overcome with soul-eating monsters is hardly new, but since “Fantasy’s” features such an enormous leap forward in computer animation, it’s impossible to stop watching it even though it would be a pleasure to stop listening to it.

Nothing here is ever as important as the animation, and it shows. At my screening last July, you could sense the audience hungering for something more, a richer story that would rise to the level of the film’s countless technical breakthroughs and turn “Fantasy” into a new classic.

The potential is there, but it doesn’t happen. In scene after scene, “Fantasy’s” maddening sci-fi pyschobabble is as irritating as Sakaguchia’s reliance on last-minute rescues as a dramatic device. Throughout, I kept wishing he had just scrapped his script and taken a real risk. If the main reason “Fantasy” exists is to wow us with its photo-realistic animation, why not follow “Fantasy” and just put the emphasis on the animation?

As it stands, the story and the characters get in the way of a movie that presents a new landmark in film. There are moments here when you realize the future is being revealed and it can be breathtaking, such as when the heroine, Dr. Aki Ross (voice of Ming-Na), tosses her hair and 100,000 strands move in perfect symmetry, or when the film’s translucent monsters rise up to fill the screen like none other.

Still, when the film tries to be too human, the experience can be sterile, such as when Aki kisses her lover, Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin). These two may have sculpted bodies that make them look like hardware, but when their lips press stiffly together, the illusion bursts. Indeed, there’s never a moment when you believe that their coupling could have been possible without his gigabit – and her gigahertz.

Grade: C+

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.