The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Critique • Quotes • Text • At the movies

Sherlock Holmes (1922) The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929) The Speckled Band (1931) Sherlock Holmes (1931–1937) Sherlock Holmes (1932) A Study in Scarlet (1933) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) Sherlock Holmes (1939) Sherlock Holmes (1954–1955) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) Sherlock Holmes (1964–1968) A Study in Terror (1965) The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975) The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) Murder by Decree (1979) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982) The Masks of Death (1984) Sherlock Holmes (1984–1994) Without a Clue (1988) Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991) Incident at Victoria Falls (1992) Sherlock Holmes (2000–2002) Sherlock: Case of Evil (2002) The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002) Sherlock Holmes (2009) Sherlock Holmes (2010) Sherlock (2010–2017) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) Elementary (2012–2019) Mr. Holmes (2015)
Scene from Sherlock: Case of Evil
Watson (Gareth David-Lloyd) and Holmes (Ben Syder) take on monsters in 2010's Sherlock Holmes.

Steampunked Sherlock

Sherlock Holmes (2010): Film, 85 minutes; director Rachel Lee Goldenberg; writers Paul Bales and Stephen Fiske; featuring Ben Syder, Gareth David-Lloyd, Dominic Keating,

The official name of this film is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, which is a laugh because it's about as far from Doyle's depiction of Holmes as possible.

Is it camp? A satire on serious Sherlock Holmes films? Or just a cheap, ridiculously bad movie cashing in on the popularity of the previous year's Holmes blockbuster starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law?

The latter for sure. A giveaway is that this Sherlock Holmes is made by The Asylum, a production company infamous for rushing out low-budget films that capitalize on the success of movies released by major studios. These films earned the name of "mockbusters".

On the other hand, this one's kind of fun, falling into the category of so-bad-it's good.

It's got the 2009 film's steampunk feel, full of mechanical devices ahead of their time in the Victorian era depicted. It goes way overboard with this though, featuring artificial dragons, robots and dinosaurs. These are supposedly created by Sherlock's estranged brother—no, not Mycroft but Thorpe Holmes—the evil mastermind of the piece who terrorizes London with his inventions. He's played with gusto by Dominic Keating, known best for Star Trek: Enterprise.

He's balanced by Watson, a calm, intelligent presence played engagingly by the biggest name in the cast, Torchwood's Gareth David-Lloyd. This a competent Watson, a vital part of the investigation's success.

Which is lucky, because this film's Sherlock is hopeless. Little-known actor Ben Syder delivers none of the mental spark, obsessive qualities or charisma we've associated with the character. He's also just too small and mousy next to David-Lloyd's imposing Watson.


Trailer for the preposterous but fun made-for-video movie, 2010's Sherlock Holmes.

The plot is full of holes and nonsensical at best. The special effects range from passable to laughable.

All of which sounds like a disaster. And for many viewers—especially rabid Holmesians—this about sums it up.

But there's another small group of moviegoers who can get a kick out of it. Who don't take it seriously as an adaptation of any part of the Sherlock Holmes saga, who don't take it seriously as a film at all.

— Eric

 

Critique • Quotes • Text • At the movies

1922, 1929–1933, 1931–1937, 1939–1946, 1954–1955, 1959–1984, 1962–1992, 1965, 1970, 1975–1988, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1984–1994, 2000–2002, 2002, 2002b, 2009–2011, 2010, 2010–2017, 2012–2019, 2015