Movie Review: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (a.k.a Sherlock V Monsters) 

Starring: Ben Syder, Gareth David-Lloyd, Dominic Keating, William Huw, Elizabeth Arends, David Shackleton, Rachael Evelyn, Neil Williams, Dylan Jones, Chris Coxon, Kate Thomas, Iago McGuire, Richard Sanderson, Thomes Jones, Laith Jawzi, Catriona McDonald, Neill Scullard, Richard Hopkins 

Director: Rachel Lee Goldenberg 

The Asylum, Revolver Entertainment, USA, UK, 2010.

During World War II old Dr. Watson (David Shackleton) tells a previously unknown story he and Sherlock Holmes promised to keep in secret. In 1882 the Royal treasure sloop HMS Coronet is sunk by a tentacled monster. 

Sherlock Holmes (Ben Syder) and Dr. Watson (Gareth David-Lloyd) are invited by Inspector Lestrade (William Huw) to investigate the case. Only one sailor named Stiles (Neil Williams) survived the accident and tells the unbelievable story. Lestrade also tells that Sherlock's brother Thorpe Holmes (Dominic Keating) contacted him. Thorpe was a former policeman who was paralyzed years ago during a robbery.

Sherlock Holmes

Dr. Watson

Inspector Lestrade

In London slums a young man is attacked by a dinosaur. Later Holmes and Watson escape the same dinosaur while walking in the woods. Thorpe and his niece Anesidora Ivory (Elizabeth Arends) come to meet Watson, because Thorpe needs painkillers. The further investigations put the heroes face to face with super villain Spring-Heeled Jack and his plan to destroy London. Also mechanical dragon and an android are introduced into the story.

Holmes and Lestrade wait while Watson climbs

Dinosaur attacks

The cover art itself shows that this is not a regular Sherlock movie. The movie mixes Sherlock Holmes stories with dinosaurs and robots. Just look at how epic the cover picture is (however the cover promises a bit too much, there is only one dinosaur and one dragon).

Epic cover art

As an idea this is not as outrageous as it first seems, because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote the Lost World which had dinosaurs living in South America. Also some plot choices could be justified by H.G. Wells or Jules Verne influences. This was published soon after the big budget Robert Downey Jr. version so as an inside joke, Sherlock's real name is revealed to be Robert.

Anesidora Ivory and Thorpe

Spring-Heeled Jack

This is one of the better Asylum movies, the special effects look also a bit better. Most of the monster scenes occur at night, so dim lighting may help. The movie looks a bit like an episode of British TV-scifi series, Doctor Who for example comes in mind. The lead actors are passable in their roles. However the acting is at some scenes unintentionally hilarious. Also plot holes and illogical events will drive you crazy if you start to think about those. So this is a cheaply made steampunk version of Sherlock Holmes, not a good movie in conventional terms way but entertains and it is slightly better than average low budget scifi/monster movies.

Mechanical dragon attack!

Rating:Good (as a low budget Asylum film) or Bad (as a regular movie)