Cyberpunkish Sherlock

Rating: 7/10 (25 January 2010)

I expected the movie to be exactly the way it was, so I can't rate it higher or lower than average. Set as a prequel to most of the book Sherlock Holmes adventures, it features a physically active Holmes, with a just as sporty Watson, fighting the powers of darkness that infect a masons like secret order in order to control England and then the world. At least they were not teenagers...
Was it too far fetched? A little, but the books were also a mix of mystery and cat and mouse games. Was the movie too flashy in its special effects? Yes, and so rendered the fabled deduction capabilities of Sherlock Holmes as nothing more than parlour tricks. His sense of smell was more prevalent in the film than his thinking. Was it entertaining? Sort of, but never over the top.
Bottom line: if they would have cut short on the steam age supertechnology and the action sequences and made the script a little more involving, it would have been a much better movie. As such, it remains a silly action film in the same league as Indiana Jones, entertaining, but never engaging.