With the release of this year’s big budget Hollywood version of the iconic British detective, Sherlock Holmes, I thought now would be a great time to delve into Holmes’ world. I’ll admit up until this year I didn’t read the books, watch any of the old movies or TV shows that featured the character. The first thing I did was download the Complete Sherlock Holmes collection onto my Kindle. I’m currently going through The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, so far I like it a lot but it’s not something I felt attached to. By the 6th short story in the collection, I figured out the formula and it got a bit boring. The collection is made for short bursts of reading, like on a metro ride to and from work. I rented Young Sherlock Holmes – which I loved and the early BBC Holmes on Netflix Instant Watch and enjoyed both.
I came away from my research liking Holmes a lot, while not being in love with him. I liked exploring his world and want more. That’s about how I felt about my experience with the movie. While Holmes is good in small doses, 2+ hours of him is a bit much even if it’s Robert Downey Jr. whom I have mad love for. The problem with this movie is that it is Ugly, dirty, grimy, which on one hand is what London probably looked like back in the day. But Director Guy Ritchie revels in the dank and dreariness. Not only is it ugly, it looks like it was made on a shoestring budget. It’s hard to really connect with the material and the people when everything else is just so ugly.
I love this cast. The chemistry between Downey Jr. and Jude Law‘s Dr. Watson feels about right. The bickering between the two is like two men who’ve been through wars together for years. The problem is, there was a bit too much of it, the same goes with how Guy Ritchie showed how Holmes’ mind works, it’s great the first few times you see it, but eventually gets to be a bit much. Downey’s portrayal of Holmes as a man who is “tortured” by his “gift” seems spot on. Tortured is the wrong word, he can’t shut off his ability to read and analyze every small detail so he stays home unless there’s a case to challenge him. Even when he fights he carefully plans out each and every punch before he goes into motion. Nothing Holmes does is by chance. Holmes is modernized here, gone is the British accent and the intelligence is augmented by a guy who seems to love to use his bare-knuckles as much as his brain. I love Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler) in just about everything she’s done so far, but she is wasted here as the only woman (or person) who ever got the better of him. She intrigues him, but there’s not much chemistry between her and Downey.
The pacing of the film felt off, the first part and the setup was pretty snappy. We meet Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) a criminal mastermind bent on world domination by tricking people into believing he’s some sort of magician. Holmes and Watson stop him from making a sacrifice. After he’s hung the movie gets bogged down for a good 30 – 40 and feels like it’s almost restarted as we see Holmes wallow in drunken self pity until Irene comes back into his life and gets his curiosity peaked by the supposed resurrection of Blackwood. A couple of snips here and there would have helped a lot. If the movie wasn’t so ugly and poorly directed it could have been really good, instead it’s just mediocre. While I didn’t connect with this installment of Sherlock Holmes, I would love to see a sequel with a more competent director.
Final Grade C-
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally Posted 12.27.09
You could not possibly have a more inaccurate and flawed review of this movie. How are you employed? Did you just watch this movie and purposely compile the opposite negatives so you could create a negative nancy review?
I’m not trying to sound like a know-it-all. I’m actually an idiot, but even an idiot can realize that this is one fantastically entertaining movie. Your review stinks of a predetermind minset. Yeah, because that’s what great movie reviewers have…
Folks, go see this movie, it’s a good one.
This is not Michelle’s worst review. Her Avatar’s review is. But I have to agree in this one. The movie has a very dark tone and I was expecting a more live version for this new era. I respect Guy Ritchie to tried to stay faithfull to the source. The movie fails to get my attention because the plot was not very good. Jude Law and Robert Downey carried the movie for the most part with their talent and quemistry but everybody else including Rachel Macadams bored me to death.