If you're looking for a Sherlock Holmes adventure... this is not one.
Don't get me wrong, in some ways it's an admirable effort for an Asylum production - they actually have a costume budget, for one thing. Ben Syder makes a good effort at portraying Holmes, but his reedy voice makes him hard to take seriously in the role, even before the plot goes off the rails. As for the plot, Holmes' skills as a detective don't end up counting for much, given that the most crucial elements of the mystery take him entirely by surprise and he ends up resolving matters mostly by way of an aerial battle between a clockwork dragon and a super-powered hot air balloon with an on-board Gatling gun.
Anachronisms abound, but there's no point in getting worked up about them in a movie that features dinosaur attacks on the streets of Whitechapel. It would never have been a serious movie, but it could have been effective as pure over-the-top entertainment if anyone involved in writing the plot had actually read a Sherlock Holmes story at any point. Instead, the plot hinges upon Holmes having an older brother named Thorpe who was once a Scotland Yard inspector. Don't look for him in any of the books; they made him up out of nowhere. Also, Holmes' name is Robert for some reason.
And then there's also the problem that most plot elements are never explained. Once the movie has successfully gotten to its action stage, all bets are off, and the audience is left to speculate for themselves as to how things are supposed to fit together. Which would be forgivable in a pure action flick, but just doesn't work in a mystery, especially not one ostensibly starring Sherlock Holmes.
Don't get me wrong, in some ways it's an admirable effort for an Asylum production - they actually have a costume budget, for one thing. Ben Syder makes a good effort at portraying Holmes, but his reedy voice makes him hard to take seriously in the role, even before the plot goes off the rails. As for the plot, Holmes' skills as a detective don't end up counting for much, given that the most crucial elements of the mystery take him entirely by surprise and he ends up resolving matters mostly by way of an aerial battle between a clockwork dragon and a super-powered hot air balloon with an on-board Gatling gun.
Anachronisms abound, but there's no point in getting worked up about them in a movie that features dinosaur attacks on the streets of Whitechapel. It would never have been a serious movie, but it could have been effective as pure over-the-top entertainment if anyone involved in writing the plot had actually read a Sherlock Holmes story at any point. Instead, the plot hinges upon Holmes having an older brother named Thorpe who was once a Scotland Yard inspector. Don't look for him in any of the books; they made him up out of nowhere. Also, Holmes' name is Robert for some reason.
And then there's also the problem that most plot elements are never explained. Once the movie has successfully gotten to its action stage, all bets are off, and the audience is left to speculate for themselves as to how things are supposed to fit together. Which would be forgivable in a pure action flick, but just doesn't work in a mystery, especially not one ostensibly starring Sherlock Holmes.
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