An excerpt from my review for the Elementary (unproduced script) by Brian Helgeland which will be available 06/30/25:
2.) Plot Stability
Was a very fun and engaging story.
If you’re looking for an entertaining tale set in Victorian London, following the likes of Moriarty, Jack the Ripper, cockney thugs in hansom cabs, etc. you won’t be disappointed…unless you primarily came for Sherlock Holmes.
That’s right…this revision centers on a handsome and competent Dr. John Watson, who grew tired of living under Holmes’ shadow and set out on his own.
When he’s called back to London to deal with his father’s estate, he stumbles into a plot where Professor Moriarty is manipulating Jack the Ripper to come out of retirement.
His retirement is what’s caused Holmes to become a bit of a recluse, living with the secret that he killed an innocent man and passed him off as Jack the Ripper four years earlier.
(Don’t worry, that’s not much of a spoiler as the script let’s you know early on that this isn’t a copy cat.)
And all the elements are here…
Hansom cab chases.
Fights on top of moving trains.
Gritty, dirty lower class alleys where trouble lurks around every corner.
Murders in the slimy sewers.
And Queen Victoria attending Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show!!!
(That last one really did happen, although not at Albert Hall like in the script, but in an outdoor arena in Earl’s Court. For some perspective, the show had 800 actors, 180 horses, 18 buffalo/bison, 14 elk, 2 deer, and 5 Texas longhorn. Hard to put all that on a single stage.)
The other reason I enjoyed this story were the “clever conveniences” in the plot.
These are things that we expect in movies, and help save our characters from disasters at just the right moment.
For instance, there’s a fight early on where Watson is knocked down on top of a moving train car. As he’s sliding off the edge his pant leg gets caught on a piece of metal, allowing him to stay on top.
Was it convenient? Sure, but it was also believable instead of outlandish.
And these little bits are sprinkled throughout the action in just the right amount.
Without going too much into the weeds on it, I do believe this is an original take based on a novel (according to Google AI).
One of the reviews I came across mentioned that having Jack the Ripper and Professor Moriarty in it felt like too much.
I disagree.
Jack the Ripper is a member of the royal family with an insatiable lust to kill prostitutes due to a negative interaction in his youth.
Professor Moriarty, being Holmes’ mental equivalent, manipulates Jack in a grander scheme to control not just London, but the entire British Empire.
It was good, and a shame the script never got produced.
However if you’re the type to get upset about a competent John Watson being the main character, then you’re probably glad this is in the What Could Have Been file of our reviews.
Me? I was just in it for an entertaining story and was not disappointed.
(My single complaint is that the ending ran a bit long. At one point, after all the chases and fist fights, things just needed to be done.)
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