On "Sherlock: Case of Evil"

"Sherlock: Case of Evil" is a prime example of how Vincent D'Onofrio makes every character he plays interesting, no matter what project he is in. Vincent is great to watch and Moriarty is a real card, but the movie as a whole could have been so much better. "Sherlock" was made for television, which seems to be it's best defense for why it feels rushed and lacks depth in many places. I truly need to sit down and re-watch parts of it (and not just the ones with Vincent) to make sure that my opinions are not unwarranted, but some things about the movie made me scratch my head and others made me laugh when I don't think I was supposed to. The main example that comes to mind is Sherlock's flashback and his hatred for Moriarty. Love the visuals, love Vincent's poses, love how Moriarty wears his top hat crooked. But every time Sherlock references the flashback and complains about how Moriarty destroyed his and his brother's lives, I want more details because the flashback in itself doesn't seem to provide enough.

In the flashback, Sherlock is 12 years old, walking through a house (his family's? Moriarty's?), and stumbles upon the good doctor shooting up Mycroft (Sherlock's brother) with something that is making him very happy and very high. But something happens and Mycroft starts having a seizure. Moriarty gets a brief clinical "hm" look on his face, then turns to the shocked boy and tells him "Run along, Sherlock." When Sherlock doesn't listen, Moriarty shouts "Go!", watches the boy walk out, then puts down the used syringe, picks up a new one, and goes back to Mycroft.

What makes me laugh and shake my head at all this is that Mycroft seemed to be a willing participant. He wasn't bound, he wasn't fighting. So . . . Mycroft had requested Moriarty? Or at the very least requested someone who had access to mood altering drugs? There's so many ways to interpret that scene. My favorite, though, is that Mycroft wanted to dabble in addictive substances, Moriarty provided, and Mycroft had an unexpected reaction that crippled him for life. But because Moriarty happens to be an evil criminal mastermind now, it's all his fault.

Sherlock: We must stop Professor Moriarty, Watson.
Watson: Of course, he's the most evil man in London. He's
killed 30 people and never been caught by the police.
Sherlock: Pfft, nevermind that. When I was 12, my brother
wanted to get high and got paralyzed instead.
Watson: What does the professor have to do with that?
Sherlock: He gave the drugs to my brother.
Watson: Did he do so in malice? You know, we live in the 19th century. Mercury is still considered a cure-all.
Sherlock: I don't know. I can't remember that part. But
he needs to die.

Ah, well. I guess only Moriarty knows the truth. And he certainly would never tell. He likes notoriety far too much.