Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.
After finally catching serial killer and occult "sorcerer" Lord Blackwood, legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson can close yet another successful case. But when Blackwood mysteriously returns from the grave and resumes his killing spree, Holmes must take up the hunt once again. Contending with his partner's new fiancée and the dimwitted head of Scotland Yard, the dauntless detective must unravel the clues that will lead him into a twisted web of murder, deceit, and black magic - and the deadly embrace of temptress Irene Adler.—The Massie Twins
In London, Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. John Watson captures the follower of black magic and serial killer Lord Blackwood that has already killed five women when he is near to kill his sixth victim. Blackwood is sentenced to be strung up and Dr. Watson attests his death. However, Blackwood mysteriously returns from the afterlife and Inspector Lestrade summons Sherlock Holmes to help the Scotland Yard in the investigation. Meanwhile Dr. Watson intends to get married of the gorgeous Mary Morstan while Sherlock is visited by his former lover Irene Adler that has a secret agenda.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
With the arrest of Lord Blackwood, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson believe they have stopped one of London's most dangerous killers, responsible for five deaths and about to commit a sixth when he is apprehended. Several months later he is hanged for his crimes but rumors begin to circulate that he is in fact still alive, having used managed and the black arts to escape society's judgment. When they disinter his remains, they find the body of another man in the coffin. Soon, all of London is atwitter with the news that Blackwood has risen from the dead and for some, he is the devil incarnate. With the assistance of the very capable Irene Adler, Holmes and Watson must stop Blackwood before he can initiate his master plan: the takeover of the British government and eventually, world domination.—garykmcd
As a spate of ritualistic murders terrorises late-1800s Victorian London, the lithe pugilist and debauched detective with the uncanny sense of deduction, Sherlock Holmes, and his acutely observant brother-in-arms, Dr Watson, manage to send to the gallows their occultist arch-enemy, Lord Blackwood. However, evil knows no boundaries--and as the disquieting rumours that the fiendish practitioner of the black arts has eluded death start to spread like wildfire--a mysterious copycat picks up where the deceased aristocrat left off. Now, against the backdrop of rampant superstition, Sherlock's feisty old flame with a hidden agenda, Irene Adler, has returned to further complicate matters, as the seemingly resurrected Blackwood continues his reign of terror. Has the dark lord, indeed, returned from the dead? Is he intent on slaughter and destruction?—Nick Riganas
In 1890 London, private detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. John Watson prevent the ritualistic murder of a woman by Lord Henry Blackwood, who has killed five women. Inspector Lestrade and the police arrest Blackwood. Two months later, Watson, engaged to Mary Morstan, is moving out of 221B Baker Street; he looks forward to not having to deal with Holmes' eccentricities. Blackwood, who claims to have supernatural powers, is sentenced to death by hanging but not before he requests to see Holmes, warning him of three more unstoppable deaths that will cause great changes to the world. Holmes nonetheless dismisses his claims and Blackwood is subsequently hanged.
Holmes is visited by former adversary Irene Adler, who asks him to find a missing man named Luke Reordan. After her departure, Holmes follows her as she meets with her secret employer, deducing that the man is a professor and that he intimidates Adler.
Meanwhile, a sighting of a living Blackwood and his tomb destroyed from the inside out lead to the belief he has risen from the grave. Reordan is found dead inside Blackwood's coffin. Following a series of clues from the body, Holmes and Watson find Reordan's hideout and discover experiments attempting to merge science with magic.
After Holmes and Watson survive a battle with Blackwood's men when the latter try to torch the lab, Holmes is taken to the Temple of the Four Orders, a secret magical fraternity with considerable political influence. The leaders - Lord Chief Justice Sir Thomas Rotheram, U.S. Ambassador Standish, and Home Secretary Lord Coward - ask Holmes to stop Blackwood, a former member of the society and Sir Thomas' secret illegitimate son.
That night, Sir Thomas drowns in his bath as Blackwood watches, and the next night Lord Coward calls a meeting of the Order where he nominates Blackwood to take command in place of Sir Thomas. Blackwood reveals to the group his intention to seize control of the British Empire and reconquer the United States. Standish tries to shoot Blackwood but bursts into flames when he pulls the trigger of his gun, falling out of a window to his death.
Coward issues an arrest warrant for Holmes, causing him to go into hiding. Holmes studies the rituals of the Order and recognizes their symbols in Blackwood's staging of the murders; from this, he deduces that the targets of the final murder are every elected member of Parliament. With the aid of Lestrade, Holmes fakes his arrest and is taken to see Coward, where he observes evidence on Coward's clothes to deduce Blackwood has conducted a ceremony in the sewers beneath the Palace of Westminster. He then escapes.
Holmes, Watson, and Adler find Blackwood's men in the sewers guarding a device based on Reordan's experiments, designed to release cyanide gas into the Parliament chambers and kill all but Blackwood's supporters, to whom he has secretly given an antidote. Blackwood comes before Parliament and announces their impending deaths, then attempts to activate the cyanide device by remote control; Adler is able to deactivate it with a controlled explosion. Coward and Blackwood's supporters are apprehended as Blackwood flees Parliament.
Holmes chases Adler, who has taken canisters of cyanide from the device, through the sewers, to the top of the incomplete Tower Bridge where they are confronted by Blackwood. Blackwood fights Adler and forces her off the bridge into the river, taking the canisters from her. He and Holmes then fight, as the latter reveals he has deduced how all of Blackwood's supposed supernatural feats were merely the work of science and trickery.
After the scuffle, a nearby piece of equipment collapses, causing Blackwood to be ensnared by chains and hanged as he plummets off the bridge. Adler has landed on a scaffolding platform and tells Holmes that her employer is Professor Moriarty, who is not to be underestimated.
As Watson moves out of 221B, a police constable reports to Holmes that a dead officer was found near Blackwood's device. Moriarty used the confrontations with Adler and Blackwood as a diversion while he took a key component, based on the infant science of radio, from the machine. Holmes considers the case reopened.
