The Spirit Is There, The Execution Is Not

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2009)

Going into this movie I was not expecting much. It did not receive the best reviews and did not really look like the best adaptation of Sherlock Holmes to me from the previews. After watching it I do think it was a little better than I was expecting, but it still had very much wrong with it.
First off, there was too much humor and dumb jokes for my taste. Some are certainly appropriate, as this is not meant to be the most serious movie of the decade, but it felt like every other line in the film was some stupid little joke.
I thought the story started pretty bad and was pretty bad throughout most of the film. I did not care for all the supernatural aspects. But of course it turned out that it was all a trick, which made the plot as a whole a bit more acceptable for me.
The worst part of the film was the conveyor leading to a saw scene. How cliché was that? I feel like I have seen this same scene eight hundred times before. Of course they are going to save her one inch from being cut it two. That is the way it always plays out. The whole conveyor belt leading to death scene should be banned from all movies from now on.
I did like the way that Holmes deduced and explained things. Everything from the breakdown of his fights, to how he figured out his location when he was kidnapped, to his explanation of the case at the conclusion. It was all very in the spirit of what Sherlock Homes should be.
I wouldn't recommend this for the price of a normal theater ticket, but perhaps for the cost of a movie rental.