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A Thomas Bess review of:
Directed By: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan
Run Time: 128 minutes, most of them spent running now that I think about it.
So yeah, this is actually my second attempt at writing an introduction for this piece. The first contained a dire warning to Holmes purists to stay away from this flick, mostly as a way to stave off any angry letters I might get for having the temerity to like it. All was well and good until one of the Atomik Brain Canister Overlords sent along this article the gist of which says that while Guy Ritchie is certainly taking a few liberties with Doyle’s famed detective, it’s not nearly as many as one might guess despite the rock ‘em, sock ‘em nature of the trailers. So in short, I have absolutely no idea how close or far this movie is from the source material, but I do know that I enjoyed it for the most part. Oh and the original intro also featured a very bad joke involving the word “afoot” which I have wisely decided to omit here. So please, keep those angry letters to a minimum.
Anyhoo, this take on Sherlock Holmes throws us right into the action with Holmes (Downey) and Watson (Law) on the trail of the sinister Lord Blackwood (Strong) a blue blooded malcontent who has been terrorizing London with a series of ritualistic, apparently occult murders. After being stopped in the act, Blackwood is arrested, sentenced and hanged but not before he warns Holmes of some mysterious, terrible doom that he’ll be powerless to stop. The situation goes from spooky to downright weird when Blackwood rises from the grave and continues his plan, which involves the old super villain chestnut of world domination. Seriously, at some point I was expecting him to glower, “Today England, tomorrow the world!” While he doesn’t spout that line exactly, there’s something pretty damned close to it. Where was I? Oh yeah, Holmes and Watson go after the resurrected rogue and are occasionally aided or hindered by Irene Adler (McAdams) an American con-artist and apparently the only person who has ever gotten the better of the vaunted detective. By the last act it’s dipping deep into the well of summer blockbuster silliness, but despite all that it never really wears out its welcome, thanks in part to a quick pace and an entertaining cast.
Speaking of whom, when taking stock of the “So what’s good?” bullet points, it must be noted that while Robert Downey Jr. wouldn’t have been my first choice (or even in the top five) to play Sherlock Holmes, he does a fine job of turning him into a sort of Victorian era action hero without downplaying the character’s legendary powers of observation. Law and McAdams are excellent as well with the former playing Watson as much more an equal to Holmes, as opposed to a bumbling sidekick. McAdams’ Adler ends up doing a bit more “heroine in peril” than I would’ve preferred during the last act, but she still comes across as a worthy addition to the Super Friends of 221B Baker Street. Mark Strong’s Lord Blackwood is an entertaining enough villain, though there were a few scenes when I could’ve sworn he was Andy Garcia dressed like Count Dracula. And while I applaud Ritchie for not going the obvious route and using Moriarty as the heavy, it’s kinda like kicking off a new Superman franchise and the first villain they roll out with is Toy Man. I mean, come on. Back to the positives, those of you looking for action are not going to be disappointed as it seems hardly a frame goes by where something isn’t exploding, collapsing, breaking or otherwise being destroyed. It’s definitely the loudest mystery of the year (Now there’s a quote that should go on the DVD case).
What’s not so good? As entertaining as the action sequences are, I would have liked to see a bit more of Sherlock Holmes being, well, Sherlock Holmes. Not saying the world needed a long sequence of him pacing a drawing room and puffing on the meerschaum pipe (or whatever the hell kind of pipe he likes. I always thought it was a meerschaum), but how about actually playing the violin as opposed to just plucking on it? And this might seem like a quibble to some, but where the hell was the deerstalker hat? Ok so it’s not the height of fashion or perhaps even accurate to the source material but just a nod to that bit of classic headgear would have been appreciated. Something else worth noting — if you’re one of those folks who likes to try and figure out how the villain is executing his fiendish plan or even just what that fiendish plan entails, you’re going to be out of luck as unless you’re as mentally nimble as the titular hero, there’s not many clues afforded to “play along at home”. And I’ve got one final nit to pick, but since it sorta falls into the realm of spoiler, I’m gonna ask the powers that be to apply the magical Sharpie starting…. Now.
Spoilers
(Mouse over to read)
We good? Excellent. All right, I don’t have any problem with Moriarty pulling a few cameos in this flick to set up the next installment but did he really have to come off like a cross between Doctor Claw and the Fisherman from I Know What You Did Last Summer? Better to just keep him in the shadows entirely than have him come off as so cartoonishly menacing.
But should you see it? That depends. If you’re looking for an honest to god mystery for Holmes & Watson to solve, I’d suggest staying far, far away. If however you’re more in the market for an amusing action film that just happens to involve the world’s greatest detective, you could do a lot worse.
Til next time, always remember that the calls are coming from inside the house.
Tom Bess has sideburns that are so big they might be considered a beard shaving accident from afar. He blames his current mental state on Stephen King, Mike Nelson, Seth McFarlane and Vince McMahon but bears them no ill will. He passes his time writing movie reviews, but will flee the interwebs forever as soon as Allison Mack starts returning his calls.
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