REVIEW: Film: Sherlock Holmes
You know the hype, the big anticipation, big name attractions and loads of publicity.
The movie was all right. Not great, and certainly not terrible. It was fluffy and fun. I know there are people out there who thought it was great. Personally, I think the film suffered from cutting room floor re-takes.
For instance, the whole Irene Adler in a corset and Sherlock Holmes grabbing her hairpin and knee-groin fight?
Not in the movie.
And the wonderful, "Ugh! They've been flirting like that for hours!" quip?
Also not in the movie.
I wonder if the cutting room floor footage is just as long as the movie itself. And if any of it will be seen on the DVD.
What the movie did have were loads of improbable for the era effects--explosions upon explosions, the dilapidated ship easily coming off its moorings (admittedly, with a good deal of help from a very heavy axe, but still), and steampunk coming out of your ears, and, more importantly, a very married Watson. To Holmes.
Or more accurately, Holmes feels married to Watson. Watson is trying to get out of Holmes' world by marrying Mary (who never met Holmes before until this film, unlike the canon that brought Mary and Watson together via a case). It is Holmes who is jealous, Holmes who wants to keep Watson by his side, and Watson who has every reason to go.
In an almost embarrassing scene, the two of them wind up in prison together where Holmes nearly begs Watson to marry him instead. They could go off to Mycroft's villa in the country, he says. Watson reminds Holmes he's getting married, and Holmes basically says yes--to Watson! (Sherlock, John wasn't proposing to you, and you know it.)
You'd think that this would be good news for the slashers. Well, it could be, I suppose, but there's more that just settles a little uneasy on the canon-slasher's heart.
Holmes has got a problem...and we never really know what the bleep it is! When Watson convinces Holmes to get out of the flat, Holmes acts as if he's been drinking. (Later we discover he does drink--medication meant for eye surgery!)
Holmes can't turn off all the incoming flux of information surrounding him. He has no filters to deal with the outside world except for Watson. Only his give and take with Watson can occupy his mind and keep everything else at bay.
Holmes also strategises his fights, and we see him similarly make connections when he sees evidence pertinent to the case. It's all connected to how he can't turn off his sensory influx. Perhaps this is part of his "flaw" which was never completely explained.
I don't know if it's because I've become a Raffles fan recently, but Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal--all scruffy and nonchalant--along with his wonton display of his unfolding cracksman kit (once unnecessarily in front of the police) made me think RDJ would have been better as Raffles than Holmes. And honestly, Mark Strong would have made a much better Holmes. However, Strong would never have worked in the tit and tat with Jude Law.
I also disliked how everything was grimy and dirty--even Baker Street. Every nook and cranny of every piece of set and scenery was covered in muck of some kind to give the film that textured cluttered look of grunge.
Overall, it's a steampunk fantasy. It's the Victorian era gone modern with trouble-filled characters and modern sensibilities. And it's all geared for an on-going franchise.
RDJ will never be Holmes to me, and this version will never be canon to me. I think it will spawn loads of slasher's delight fiction and more films and merchandising, which was probably the point in the whole movie in the first place.
The movie was all right. Not great, and certainly not terrible. It was fluffy and fun. I know there are people out there who thought it was great. Personally, I think the film suffered from cutting room floor re-takes.
For instance, the whole Irene Adler in a corset and Sherlock Holmes grabbing her hairpin and knee-groin fight?
Not in the movie.
And the wonderful, "Ugh! They've been flirting like that for hours!" quip?
Also not in the movie.
I wonder if the cutting room floor footage is just as long as the movie itself. And if any of it will be seen on the DVD.
What the movie did have were loads of improbable for the era effects--explosions upon explosions, the dilapidated ship easily coming off its moorings (admittedly, with a good deal of help from a very heavy axe, but still), and steampunk coming out of your ears, and, more importantly, a very married Watson. To Holmes.
Or more accurately, Holmes feels married to Watson. Watson is trying to get out of Holmes' world by marrying Mary (who never met Holmes before until this film, unlike the canon that brought Mary and Watson together via a case). It is Holmes who is jealous, Holmes who wants to keep Watson by his side, and Watson who has every reason to go.
In an almost embarrassing scene, the two of them wind up in prison together where Holmes nearly begs Watson to marry him instead. They could go off to Mycroft's villa in the country, he says. Watson reminds Holmes he's getting married, and Holmes basically says yes--to Watson! (Sherlock, John wasn't proposing to you, and you know it.)
You'd think that this would be good news for the slashers. Well, it could be, I suppose, but there's more that just settles a little uneasy on the canon-slasher's heart.
Holmes has got a problem...and we never really know what the bleep it is! When Watson convinces Holmes to get out of the flat, Holmes acts as if he's been drinking. (Later we discover he does drink--medication meant for eye surgery!)
Holmes can't turn off all the incoming flux of information surrounding him. He has no filters to deal with the outside world except for Watson. Only his give and take with Watson can occupy his mind and keep everything else at bay.
Holmes also strategises his fights, and we see him similarly make connections when he sees evidence pertinent to the case. It's all connected to how he can't turn off his sensory influx. Perhaps this is part of his "flaw" which was never completely explained.
I don't know if it's because I've become a Raffles fan recently, but Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal--all scruffy and nonchalant--along with his wonton display of his unfolding cracksman kit (once unnecessarily in front of the police) made me think RDJ would have been better as Raffles than Holmes. And honestly, Mark Strong would have made a much better Holmes. However, Strong would never have worked in the tit and tat with Jude Law.
I also disliked how everything was grimy and dirty--even Baker Street. Every nook and cranny of every piece of set and scenery was covered in muck of some kind to give the film that textured cluttered look of grunge.
Overall, it's a steampunk fantasy. It's the Victorian era gone modern with trouble-filled characters and modern sensibilities. And it's all geared for an on-going franchise.
RDJ will never be Holmes to me, and this version will never be canon to me. I think it will spawn loads of slasher's delight fiction and more films and merchandising, which was probably the point in the whole movie in the first place.