Reviews – Television: H
RATINGS KEY
0/5 – Terrible. Start a campaign to have it cancelled.
1/5 – Bad. Better than golf, but that’s about it.
2/5 – Okay. Watch it if you’re too lazy to change channels.
3/5 – Average. Watch it if you catch it, but don’t rearrange your schedule for it.
4/5 – Good. Do rearrange your schedule for it.
5/5 – Excellent. Work it into your weekly routine—and buy the DVDs, too.
Hands of a Murderer (1990)
0/5 | Reviewed 1.06.07
One of the most execrable Sherlock Holmes productions I’ve ever seen, on screens big or small. In fact, I’m fairly well convinced that whoever wrote this piece of crap has never actually read the Sherlock Holmes stories—at best, they watched a Holmes movie or two and got someone to compile a list of Holmes quotes for them, and then went from there and cobbled together what they undoubtedly thought a brilliant representation that would win unanimous acclaim. (Or maybe they were on drugs. Seven-per-cent solution, anyone?) Don’t blame the actors—Edward Woodward, though about twenty years too old to play Sherlock Holmes, does a decent (if understandably half-hearted) job, and John Hillerman brings a dignified gravity to Watson that is often lacking in other actors’ interpretations (and which is sadly undermined by this version’s terrible lines). Just don’t get me started on the guy who played Mycroft—no offense to the actor, but you know it’s going to be a bad two hours when Sherlock is fatter than his brother. Holmes fans will recoil in horror at this terrible show; non-fans will not be converted, and may be forgiven if they come away with a strong dislike for anything Holmesian.
