Movie Review: "Sherlock Holmes"
***** out of *****
I went to this movie mostly because Jude Law plays the part of Dr. Watson, but I ended up staying for the whole thing.
This is a very different view of Arthur Conan Doyle's immortal detective and there's a subtle steampunk angle on the whole film, even a hint of urban fantasy (at least till the Big Reveal). The usual tendency to cast Watson as Holmes's bungling side-kick and Holmes as an erudite master of the inductive method has been turned on it's ear. Robert Downey jr.'s Holmes is sloppy, scruffy and even befuddled; he's like a Victorian Columbo, quite unlike the Basil Rathbone image of Holmes with his deerstalker, mantled cloak and meerschaum pipe. Yet this only makes his deductions all the more striking. Jude Law's Watson is meticulous and tidy, a man who can stand on his own, which is befitting a decorated war hero (as he's portrayed in the books), though he's constantly exasperated with Holmes's weird logic and eccentricities, even snapping at him in some "impersonation of an old married couple" exchanges. We finally get to meet Watson's fiancee, who never once graced the pages of the books; and Holmes himself has been given a love interest, or at least a friend with benefits, in the form of a winsome "adventuress" (read: career criminal and double if not triple agent), who pretty much aides him in his investigation though one wonders if she isn't also baiting him.
The plot isn't taken from any of the stories, as far as I know, and it can seem a little thin at times, but then we realize who's really pulling the strings, who's really manipulating the cabal of occultists at the center of the story. The main villain, the diabolical Lord Blackwood, might seem like a fiend straight out of hell who can wield power over the elements, and even life and death itself, but Holmes manages to turn over his schemes and reveal the machinery behind the smoke and mirrors... but then we realize that even the villain had his strings pulled by someone much more sinister...
It's a bit more action-oriented than a lot of Holmes movies I've seen: there's some well-choreographed and scenery-chewing fight scenes (leading up to a vertigo-inducing fight on the then-under construction Tower of London Bridge). But they're not just there for show or to satisfy modern tastes: there's two bits where we get inside Holmes's head as he plans his attacks, tailoring them to the weaknesses of his opponent; they're even filmed in a Matrix-esque "bullet time" style. He might seem like a befuddled doofus, but with his blend of jujitsu, capoeira and Krav Maga, I wouldn't want to go hand to hand with this Holmes.
A lot has been made of a seeming homoerotic subtext in Holmes and Watson's relationship, and there's a few funny lines that could be taken as mild jokes in that vein, but any subtext is pretty translucent: I think only someone trying to be offended would find it irksome.
This is also the first time I've seen a Holmes movie where Stuff Blew Up, which was a somewhat refreshing addition, but there again, I like a well-framed explosion as much as I like well-turned acting or cinematography.
The art design and settings were balanced carefully between Gorgeous Period Dress and Dung Age-style which seem to be the major pitfalls that a lot of historical costume dramas tend to fall into. Hans Zimmer supplied an intricate, cagey soundtrack, scored for dulcimer, banjo and what sounds like an out of tune piano with some nuts and bolts attached to the strings, which gives it a old-time theater sound.
I went to this movie mostly because Jude Law plays the part of Dr. Watson, but I ended up staying for the whole thing.
This is a very different view of Arthur Conan Doyle's immortal detective and there's a subtle steampunk angle on the whole film, even a hint of urban fantasy (at least till the Big Reveal). The usual tendency to cast Watson as Holmes's bungling side-kick and Holmes as an erudite master of the inductive method has been turned on it's ear. Robert Downey jr.'s Holmes is sloppy, scruffy and even befuddled; he's like a Victorian Columbo, quite unlike the Basil Rathbone image of Holmes with his deerstalker, mantled cloak and meerschaum pipe. Yet this only makes his deductions all the more striking. Jude Law's Watson is meticulous and tidy, a man who can stand on his own, which is befitting a decorated war hero (as he's portrayed in the books), though he's constantly exasperated with Holmes's weird logic and eccentricities, even snapping at him in some "impersonation of an old married couple" exchanges. We finally get to meet Watson's fiancee, who never once graced the pages of the books; and Holmes himself has been given a love interest, or at least a friend with benefits, in the form of a winsome "adventuress" (read: career criminal and double if not triple agent), who pretty much aides him in his investigation though one wonders if she isn't also baiting him.
The plot isn't taken from any of the stories, as far as I know, and it can seem a little thin at times, but then we realize who's really pulling the strings, who's really manipulating the cabal of occultists at the center of the story. The main villain, the diabolical Lord Blackwood, might seem like a fiend straight out of hell who can wield power over the elements, and even life and death itself, but Holmes manages to turn over his schemes and reveal the machinery behind the smoke and mirrors... but then we realize that even the villain had his strings pulled by someone much more sinister...
It's a bit more action-oriented than a lot of Holmes movies I've seen: there's some well-choreographed and scenery-chewing fight scenes (leading up to a vertigo-inducing fight on the then-under construction Tower of London Bridge). But they're not just there for show or to satisfy modern tastes: there's two bits where we get inside Holmes's head as he plans his attacks, tailoring them to the weaknesses of his opponent; they're even filmed in a Matrix-esque "bullet time" style. He might seem like a befuddled doofus, but with his blend of jujitsu, capoeira and Krav Maga, I wouldn't want to go hand to hand with this Holmes.
A lot has been made of a seeming homoerotic subtext in Holmes and Watson's relationship, and there's a few funny lines that could be taken as mild jokes in that vein, but any subtext is pretty translucent: I think only someone trying to be offended would find it irksome.
This is also the first time I've seen a Holmes movie where Stuff Blew Up, which was a somewhat refreshing addition, but there again, I like a well-framed explosion as much as I like well-turned acting or cinematography.
The art design and settings were balanced carefully between Gorgeous Period Dress and Dung Age-style which seem to be the major pitfalls that a lot of historical costume dramas tend to fall into. Hans Zimmer supplied an intricate, cagey soundtrack, scored for dulcimer, banjo and what sounds like an out of tune piano with some nuts and bolts attached to the strings, which gives it a old-time theater sound.