What to make of Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes”? It’s fast moving and instantly forgettable. It’s a film of no consequence. There are funny scenes as Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) and Watson (Jude Law) bicker and investigate the strange case of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), who poses quite a threat to the London establishment. There’s Rachel McAdams as a plot device that operates to help set up the sequel. Oh, and a handful of well filmed action scenes, some of which happen against CGI backdrops a la “The Golden Compass”.
It’s far from a bad movie, but it’s not a particularly memorable one. Ritchie is a fine director and Downey Jr a great actor, but this one is somewhat below par for both. By the way, I find it interesting that my favourite line from the trailer, where McAdams says, “They’ve been flirting like this all day”, which I took to refer to the constant bickering between the detective and the good doctor, is not in the film. Did someone fear a homophobic backlash?
2 comments:
The owners of the Sherlock Homles copyright insisted that any homo-references be removed...
I agree, made for a fun popcorn muncher. Entertaining viewing, the masonic thing is overplayed after From Hell. Good Victorian detective story...but not good enough to live up to Doyle.
Always fancied Adrian Brody as a good Holmes, Richie didn't develop Holmes sense of astuteness enough, it was more like let me make Snatch, From Hell and Fight Club in one, but make it a period piece and use developed characters from literature so we can focus on action and let semiotics do the rest.
5/10
And the popcorn was stale.
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