Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44352 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-22

Amazon.com
The sexy, clever young Sherlock Holmes is in pursuit of England's most notorious serial killer. Things are never as they seem in this well-plotted dark urban tale of drugs, sex and murder. The diabolical Professor Moriarty has met his match with London's newest dynamic duo, Watson and Sherlock Holmes. This is where the legend begins.

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Customer Reviews

Excellent Pastiche
I am a big Holmes' fan. I've read all the Doyle stories and I think of Jeremy Brett the quintessential Holmes. I've seen many, many other films that do not live up to the Granada series and Brett's take on the role. I've seen all the Basil Rathbone films and the Ian Richardson films. I've seen Christopher Plummer, Peter O'Toole, Rupert Everett (who did a fine job), Robert Stephens, and Christopher Lee play the role. Recently I had the displeasure of seeing Jonathan Pryce and Matt Frewer. I haven't seen Peter Cushing, but I have it on order through Amazon.Uk.

This film is quite good, though. James D'Arcy is excellent as Holmes. He looks young, but once you are able to get past that, he does a wonderful job. He's subtle, true, but his expressions and characterization is spot-on. One of the things that might bother some viewers is Holmes' experience and activity with women. From Doyle's stories, Holmes didn't show much interest in women (except for "the Woman"). But, I can accept that a much younger Holmes might have. I can accept that this younger Holmes who also didn't seem to mind the limelight so much may have changed a bit during the following years.

Vincent D'Onofrio was a perfect Moriarty. He was suave and confident-- and very evil. Although we don't get to know his character so much from this movie alone, you get the sense that there's an entire backstory to him-- he isn't flat nor two-dimensional by any means.

I wasn't sure I'd like Watson (Roger Morlidge) when we first meet him on screen, but he turned out to be smart, inventive, and brave. None of the bumbling idiocy that I've seen in some of the Holmes' films. He makes a formidable counterpart to Holmes, rather than a 'sidekick'.

Lestrade (Nicholas Gecks), too, was more in line with how he's depicted in the Granada series. He makes mistakes, but he's honest and, for the most part, capable. He's a pleasure to watch.

Gabrielle Anwar was perfect as the love interest, Rebecca. Although her on-screen time is limited, she definitely gets to show her range.

Mycroft is played by Richard E Grant. Often, Mycroft is so interesting that the viewer (or reader) wants to learn much more about him. This is true, here, in this film, too. He's definitely a complex character. I wouldn't mind seeing Richard Grant play Holmes in a future film. He's definitely capable.

All in all, this was a surprisingly good film. Considering some of the stuff out there, I'm surprised this hasn't gotten better reviews. I don't think one has to suspend disbelief too much to accept Holmes as expressing an interest in women in his younger years. This Holmes is a little less certain than he is in later years, but no less brave and no less intelligent. One can accept that he puts women aside as he ages so to concentrate on his work without distraction and emotional attachment. Holmes ends up a bit eccentric, but there is nothing in the canon to assume he started out less interested in basic pleasures than his peers.

A case of heroin
The film begins with Holmes (James D'Arcy) in hot pursuit of his archenemy Professor Moriarty (Vincent D'Onofrio). They duel, and Holmes shoots Moriarty, who falls into an open sewer hole. Holmes looks down the hole and sees Moriarty carried away by the rushing sewage and presumes him dead.

This is a problem. No Sherlock Holmes (nay, no reasonable detective) would presume death in the absence of a corpse. Yet Holmes does. Firmly. That he is young should in no way prejudice him.

Holmes ingratiates himself with the public coroner/pathologist, Dr. Watson, by proving insightful during the autopsy of a murder victim. And after that autopsy, he deduces the height of the murderer, along with other "facts", and he even has a name for the person. The Inspector, Watson, Holmes and the police go to the address of the alleged murderer, only to find him hanging in an apparent suicide. Holmes believes it is not a suicide, and eventually comes to believe that Moriarty did not die, and is still alive.

The film introduces us to some novel concepts that never saw the end of Doyle's pen: 1) Holmes had a personal vendetta against Moriarty because Moriarty drugged his brother Mycroft, leaving him so sick that he is all but convalescent; 2) that Mycroft was poisoned by anyone, much less Moriarty; 3) that Moriarty may have been responsible for Holmes's occasional cocaine and morphine use; 4) that Moriarty had an interest in the use of drugs at all.

Still, it's fine to be novel in one's approach.

D'Arcy's Holmes is sexy (so says the Netflix description). He is certainly young. D'Arcy is a fine actor, so it wasn't difficult to imagine his character as a maturing detective - indeed, that is what the filmmakers wanted us to think. The very last scene of the film makes that obvious. But D'Onofrio's Moriarty was confusing. His accent was sub par at best, and with a wealth of British actors to choose from, one wonders at this choice.

The plot is fairly straightforward. Moriarty has stumbled upon heroin, a drug that he seeks to sell both in the colonies and in England. He is taking out his perceived competition, traders in the opium market. While it's difficult to feel too much sympathy for drug dealers meeting a nasty end, it is Moriarty that is doing the killing, of course, and we want to see Holmes carry the day.There is a slight cat and mouse game played, and it is entertaining to watch. This is by no means a great film, but it is good.

It's interesting to note that Moriarty has become greater over time than he was during the writing of the books. He only appeared in, I believe, two books. Yet such is his fame that if Holmes had been chasing anyone but Moriarty in this film, it would not have been interesting to watch.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 for the USA Network's presentation of late 19th century London, concerning not only costume design and set construction but also the pronunciation of certain words.

I loved it
I thought Vincent was awesome in this movie- I was hoping he would be playing Sherlock but he was excellent as the evil Moriarty- the sexiest fiend I have ever seen!

Yeah, the movie was not true to the Sherlock Holmes story but I liked their take on it and it made it more interesting to watch. I was very involved in all the characters. Also it was interesting to think of how heroin came to be.