It’s odd, this go-round of Sherlock Holmes–a copy of which was sent from Warner Brothers–because it’s not exactly the kind of thing you’d expect from an adaptation of a fairly major piece of literature like Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.  Of course, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as we’ll discover, but it definitely qualifies as strange.

The new Sherlock Holmes joins the duo just after their last case, the mysterious case of Lord Blackwood, a black magic practitioner and murderer.  Blackwood was put to death, but it didn’t take.  And now he’s back and running rampant with a master plan to build a new British Empire that will last millenia–with him at the helm.  Thus, our stalwart duo Holmes and the soon to be married Watson will embark on a grand adventure in a bid to stop him.

Perhaps the best part of Sherlock Holmes is the sheer amount of personality it exudes.  Think a darker, wittier version of Wild Wild West and you’ll have a pretty good idea of how this one turned out.  It’s both wildly entertaining and wildly compelling, keeping interest high as it runs riot through turn of the century London.

A highly authentic soundtrack is a huge help here, and even better is how seamlessly the standard detective work of Holmes is blended into a surprisingly large number of action sequences.  I never frankly would have expected this much action to come out of a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, and yet, here it is.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives this excellent adaptation–that even manages to set up sequels that feature some more classic Holmes villains (I won’t spoiler who, but you can almost certainly guess)–an eight out of ten for being slick, satisfying and surprisingly entertaining throughout.