Sherlock Holmes!
Just got back. Despite a few reservations--I don't think Holmes would ever go about unshaven--I thought it was magnificent. Ritchie returned to the canon so many times--and deviated in a couple inconsequential details--and gives a much more physical and cerebral Holmes than so many lazy portrayals have given us. Downey, as always, was a delight, and Judah Law gave a nice Watson that was more in keeping with the original and much much less with the Nigel Bruce travesty of the 40s. Although a pipe appears several time, it isn't the pipe associated with Holmes by William Gilette, and the damned deerstalker never appears.
Ritchie goes into the personal life of the pair a bit more than I remember from the stories, but nothing is incredibly wrong or contradictory. He does not use drugs at all in the film--a concession to Downey perhaps?--and the scenery was remarkable, almost making me wonder whether it as real or CGI. Even the end credits had remarkable artwork that kept Julie glued to the seat while they went on, and Hans Zimmer's score was incredible.
The plot was fairly routine, dealing with secret societies and conspiracies, but Ritchie doesn't succumb to the current trend toward presenting supernatural actions as facts, providing a logical cause for what seems like a supernatural action. The villain is new, but Irene Adler has a pretty large part, and the Professor is brought to Holmes's attention, hopefully portending a sequel. Ritchie's innovative movie-making even details the way that Holmes's brain works and how things occur in a much more satisfactory way than any of the earlier adaptations.
Ritchie is one of two outstanding modern directors--my love of "Inglourious Bastards" should hint at the other--and this exciting and amusing film reenfoces the reputation!
Ritchie goes into the personal life of the pair a bit more than I remember from the stories, but nothing is incredibly wrong or contradictory. He does not use drugs at all in the film--a concession to Downey perhaps?--and the scenery was remarkable, almost making me wonder whether it as real or CGI. Even the end credits had remarkable artwork that kept Julie glued to the seat while they went on, and Hans Zimmer's score was incredible.
The plot was fairly routine, dealing with secret societies and conspiracies, but Ritchie doesn't succumb to the current trend toward presenting supernatural actions as facts, providing a logical cause for what seems like a supernatural action. The villain is new, but Irene Adler has a pretty large part, and the Professor is brought to Holmes's attention, hopefully portending a sequel. Ritchie's innovative movie-making even details the way that Holmes's brain works and how things occur in a much more satisfactory way than any of the earlier adaptations.
Ritchie is one of two outstanding modern directors--my love of "Inglourious Bastards" should hint at the other--and this exciting and amusing film reenfoces the reputation!