Anything with Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley is well worth watching and indeed for most of the film it is exactly that. A good setting in a 19th century asylum run by a sadistic doctor. Enter our hero shove in a soppy romance. Add in a stuttering finale, throw in a sting in the tail and then spoil it all by an ending straight from a mediocre rom-com. If only they had read the script before filming and thought of what they could have done. So a good try worth watching but fatally flawed in the end.

Quite a cast list here and based on a Poe story, so you'd be forgiven for having reasonably high expectations. It's a bit formulaic though, full of Victorian deathly drama. Shadowy, creeping, slightly clunky script and obvious spooky string laden score. With all this mounting up, it doesn't look promising, but there's a dark humour which makes it quite entertaining and after the first half hour has passed, albeit a little predicable it does find its feet. The boundaries blur nicely between who is good and who is mad and it's all made the more watchable by Ben Kingsley, who although is dialling it in a bit, is still very watchable. Which is a good summary... watchable.

I really enjoyed this movie. It kept me guessing to thee very end. The cast- Kate Beckingsale(Underworld Series,Vaccancy, Click)Jim Sturgess(Across The Universe,21) David Thewlis(Fargo,Red 2,Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban) Those three were my favorite characters in the movie but I love them in everything I've seen them in. Anyway if you like the three actors as I mentioned then you should give this movie a go. It really deserves better ratings. For the sets, music, the pace, the brilliance of shining a light on something dark. It makes you think till the end. Then you're like whoah such a good movie.

From a master of mystery & suspense, comes a journey into the dark depths of the mind......well not exactly.This is based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, "The System Of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether." The term here is "based". Because they've tagged on Poe's name they've made it into the horror genre without making a horror film. In fact. there's not much mystery or suspense in this movie either.Don't get me wrong this is a solid story with a great cast of British actors, including good performances from Kate Beckinsale as Eliza Graves, Ben Kingsley as Silas Lamb, David Thewlis as Mickey Finn, Jason Flemyng as Swanwick, and Jim Sturgess as Edward Newgate. Brad Anderson also does a good job of bringing out the performances of the cast and setting a decent atmosphere within the confines of the asylum, not as unsettling and mysterious as it should have been, though.There was plenty of settings and scenes where Anderson could have created tension and suspense, which could have added an oppressive atmosphere to the asylum, making the film stronger and a little darker. For me, this film was too light and required more sense of mystery, given the synopsis of the story - there could have been twist on twist. However, the main storyline was the blossoming love story. This annoyed me as the stronger elements were pushed to the side and even ignored - with all that is lacking in this film, I believe it's more drama than anything else.That said the story was okay but it was the good acting, direction, and location. which kept my attention and my finger from hitting the stop button.A good film but could have been so much more.Worth a watch while cuddled up with your loved one on the sofa. A watch once movie.