Sherlock: Case of Evil

Customer Reviews:

I loved it.......2007-05-20

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.

horrible...........2007-04-27

as someone who is both a huge fan of: a-Sherlock Holmes, and b-Vincent Donofrio, my interest was piqued when I saw this DVD at the local video store. From the cover of the box you would surmise that Vincent Donofrio is playing Holmes. Not so-he's playing Moriarity, and sad to say, very badly.

This film is in no way true to the Holmes stories and so far fetched as a period piece as to be laughable. I got 3/4 thru before I finally quit in disgust. Don't waste your time or money on this production-it's 100 minutes you'll never get back.

0 stars!

A case of heroin.......2007-03-26

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.

Average customer rating:

good quality, one problem
It's just not interesting
A revisionist look at a young Sherlock Holmes, but overwrought and without cleverness or style
(1.5 STARS) Shallowest Holmes
PIEKENBROCK'S POPPYCOCK!

Sherlock - Case of Evil
Starring: James D'Arcy , Roger Morlidge , Gabrielle Anwar , Vincent D'Onofrio , and Nicholas Gecks
Director: Graham Theakston
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000CERP3
Release Date: 2003-11-18

Customer Reviews:

good quality, one problem.......2007-02-15

This DVD was generally of good quality, but I could never get all the way through one scene without it freezing and skipping. This fact was not revealed to me before I bought it.

It's just not interesting.......2006-12-10

Setting aside the gross inconsistencies with the original stories, this film does little to distinguish itself from any run-of-the-mill made-for-cable movie. The actors are adequate, and the production values are adequate, but the script is dull and predictable. There is nothing to hook the viewer in at all. The makers seem to concede this fact by throwing in plenty of cheescake (various women are eager to bed young Sherlock) that serves no narrative purpose and does nothing to add depth to any of the characters, for whom it is hard to feel anything but indifference. The romantic element is also just tacked on in the most generic fashion, and is ineffective precisely because the viewer could care less about either Sherlock or what's-her-name. There is plenty of filler, such as the recurring flashback of the villain injecting Sherlock's older brother with something nasty. The scene is filmed (or rather digitally dressed up) in a slick, MTV-ish style, but it lacks emotional impact, and by the third or fourth time we've seen it, it's just plain tiresome. The film doesn't even rise to the level of cotton candy; it's more like that dried-up, crunchy bit a chewing gum that used to come with a pack of trading cards. The only people who seem really enthusiastic about the project are the set and costume designers, and maybe some others involved in creating the look of the film. Because in the end, the look is all this film has to offer.

A revisionist look at a young Sherlock Holmes, but overwrought and without cleverness or style.......2006-11-05

I can almost hear the pitch: "Let's make a TV movie about Sherlock Holmes just as he's starting out as a private detective...but let's make him so revisionist that all the old-fogey traditionalists will pop their belly-buttons. We'll put in sex, heavy breathing, sword fights, graphic drug use and more sex. We'll make Holmes an anti-hero. And we'll create so much buzz the follow-up movies will be as good as an annuity for us." They forgot something. While a revisionist look at old heros and old plays can be more than welcome, better make sure the thing has wit and surprise, and that the cast can carry it off with charisma and style. Sherlock: Case of Evil, while it undoubtedly made the traditionalists huff and puff, fails at just about every other level.

The plot? Who really cares when we can't care about any of the characters. For what it's worth, it has to do with Holmes' determination to strike down Professor Moriarty (Vincent D'Onofrio), who plans to do the same to Holmes while sending a newly invented drug, which lacks a name but seems to be crystal meth, to sell in New York City. Through Holmes' hazy recollections as a child we learn that Moriarty hooked Holmes' brilliant older brother, Mycroft (Richard E. Grant) on drugs. Since Mycroft is nothing but a plot device and Grant soon disappears from the movie, this is weak motivation for Holmes' hatred of Moriarty.

We have a young Holmes, played by James D'Arcy with far too much intensity, who collects his own press clippings, seeks public acclaim, loves to nuzzle young beauties and is more than up for a drunken romp with two ladies of the street. D'Arcy was exceptional as Nicholas Nickleby; here, he seems more like a petulant puppy. The actor is prone to deep, meaningful gazes, intensity which is too actorly and a callowness which was appealing as Nickleby but which is unsatisfying as Holmes. One would think that under these circumstances D'Onofrio would walk away with the movie. Instead, he overacts. His Moriarty is little more than an effete bully with a bad English accent. In one extended scene when Moriarty, in a top hat and a cape, is leeringly threatening a young woman, the image which comes to mind is Charles Laughton in Jamaica Inn.

At the conclusion we are supposed to recognize the origins of Holmes' loneliness, where he acquired his deerstalker cap and that pipe, and to recognize the affection which developed between him and Dr. Watson (who, by the way, he met in the morgue where Watson was apparently working as an autopsy surgeon for the city).

The DVD transfer looks very good. The production values are not as rich as some British TV period mysteries, but are certainly well above average. In my opinion, this is an overwrought, melodramatic attempt to goose some life into a character who probably doesn't need it...or, if he does, should be given material much more clever than what we have. This is definitely something to rent first and then decide if you want to buy.

(1.5 STARS) Shallowest Holmes.......2006-08-06

The Sherlock Holmes film `Case of Evil' is, as the tagline says, about the `past' of the greatest detective. The made-for-TV film is based on the completely original story set in Holmes's younger days when he met Doctor Watson. I admit the idea itself is not a bad one. What is terribly annoying is the way they put together the clichéd elements which you might have seen in the usual crime dramas, totally ignoring the Arthur Conan Doyle's books and our feelings towards the much-loved world of the sleuth.

James D'Arcy plays young Holmes before he meets Doctor Watson. Holmes is already a national hero because he killed (he thinks) the arch-villain Moriarty (Vincent D'Onofrio) after the Three Musketeers-like sword fighting. Now Holmes is very happy, popular with women, until he encounters another case that strongly implies that the master criminal is not dead.

But of course he is not dead. Everyone who chooses to see this film has some knowledge about Holmes, and they all know something about the waterfall and Holmes' Japanese martial arts skills. So when Gabrielle Anwar appears as aristocratic Lady D'Winter, we know that she is not what she appears, and we are in for the secrets in London.

But these secrets are only part of the whole merits of watching or reading Holmes's adventures. They also include the unique personality of Holmes that has become the legacy of all the human beings, and the dark-lit streets of the foggy city of London too. Sorry to report this, but this version `Case of Evil' has very little of them despite the very good title.

In fact the Sherlock Homes you see here is not your regular Holmes. Holmes sleeps with women; Holmes engages in a shoot-out; and worst of all Holmes is afraid of losing face, too much concerned about his fame while our beloved Holmes is a true gentleman, who would do none of this. Roger Morlidge plays Watson who is so clever that he can invent some gadgets James Bond would die for. Gabrielle Anwar shows her cleavage (yes, I confess, I like that part) and Richard E Grant appears as Mycroft with both legs nearly paralyzed. I still cannot comprehend the meanings of, or intentions behind these changes, and don't know whether they changed the basic setting with or without any purposes. If they have one, that must be to surprise us, and they did succeed in doing that, but not in the same way they intended.

I heartily welcome any additional materials to the Holmes world from the persons who truly understand why he and his London is still loved by billions of readers. Many of them including me would like to see his younger days, but not the puppy-faced playboy from a brat-pack.

PIEKENBROCK'S POPPYCOCK!.......2006-04-27

I'm afraid I must take exception with Ryan Piekenbrock's review of this sorry mess! Far from Sherlock's best, CASE OF EVIL is closer to CONAN THE BARBARIAN than CONAN DOYLE. Piekenbrock's review is rife with pithy and pretentious posturing in a sorry attempt to paint a Picasso with little more than good intentions and a pail of panda piss; the only mystery with CASE OF EVIL is why anyone would bother watching the thing...

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