Columns
‘Sherlock Holmes’ more action, less mystery
If you're a fan of Robert Downey Jr. or Jude Law, you'll probably enjoy “Sherlock Holmes.” If you reveled in Sean Connery's James Bond, George Clooney's “Ocean's Eleven” or any of the action “Buddy” films of the 1980s (such as “Lethal Weapon”), you'll probably love “Sherlock Holmes.” If, however, you enjoyed reading about the Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, you will probably be unable to sit through Guy Ritchie's horrendous recreation of the legendary English detective.
The story, written by woefully inexperienced Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham, has the brilliantly deductive detective Holmes (Robert Downey Jr., “Iron Man,” “Gothika”) involved in constant banter with his pal Dr. Watson (Jude Law, “The Holiday,” “Sleuth”). It seems that capable Watson is engaged to be married to spunky Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly, “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” “Pride & Prejudice”), and Holmes fears the end of his own partnership with his right-hand man. However, Holmes' own emotions are distracted by the reappearance of disingenuous femme fatale Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams, “The Notebook,” “Wedding Crashers”), with whom he is infatuated. The competitive repartee between Holmes and Watson (and Adler) rambles nonstop through a series of expertly choreographed fight scenes, explosions, stunts, and special effects as they pursue the diabolically evil and aptly named Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong, “Stardust,” “Body of Lies”) as he ingeniously and with apparent supernatural powers murders his way across Victorian London.
While the action sequences are top-notch, you would expect some intellectual stimulation in a movie about the renowned Sherlock Holmes, but such pursuits are lost in Ritchie's penchant for droll dialogue and cleverly filmed combat and mayhem. London itself is sloppily depicted, with alternately muddy and cobblestone streets, St. Paul's Cathedral near the banks of the Thames, and Tower Bridge mysteriously moved more than a mile upstream to flank Westminster Hall. The costuming is also sadly out of place, and the witty comments of Holmes, Watson, and Adler are much more in line with 21st century Hollywood than 19th century London.
If you expected to see a cunning mystery shrewdly solved in a movie titled “Sherlock Holmes,” you would be mistaken. The villainous Lord Blackwood is known to be the perpetrator from the opening scene of the movie, and while his motives are never explained, his nefarious goal is also known fairly early in the film, which offers no stunning surprises, gasps of realization, or secrets revealed. As difficult as it is to imagine, it would seem that the authors of “Sherlock Holmes” have never read a mystery. Ultimately, Ritchie (“Revolver,” “Swept Away”) must bear responsibility for this bizarre re-interpretation of the detective genre, but the lack of a mystery is indicative of a production that is banking on star power and not story to carry it.
Unfortunately, the talented actors in “Sherlock Holmes” are miscast egregiously. McAdams plays the dangerously plotting Irene Adler as more of a mischievously scheming school girl, incapable of the feats of cunning and deceit she notoriously inflicts on Holmes. Law portrays the bumbling but stalwart Dr. Watson as a formidable detective in his own right: confident to the point of arrogance, supremely talented in hand-to-hand combat, clever and quick with a quip, and yet morally deficient when it comes to games of chance. Lastly, Downey's Holmes appears constantly bewildered and emotionally vulnerable, and is often outsmarted by his opponents; his deucedly clever deductions are seen as bluffs and guesswork, and his famous brain is more talented at anticipating an opponent's next move in a fistfight than in deciphering the clues of a mystery, many of which are preposterous and remain completely unexplained. In short, Watson is Holmes' near-equal in knowledge and Holmes' real strength seems to be his physical, not his mental prowess. While these characterizations are often enjoyable to watch, they are so far removed from the imagination of Conan Doyle as to be slanderous.
As an action movie, “Sherlock Holmes” is exciting and enjoyable; as a mystery, it is disappointing and inconsequential; and as an homage to the first great detective of literature, it is an abomination.
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