I saw Holmes today! I wanted to do a quick review.
Let me just throw out my general assessment: this was a fun movie, but nothing amazing. It’s worth seeing if you like action movies or are a big fan of Holmes, as I am. Even if you are, it’s not going to rock your world, but it will entertain you.
I’ve read most of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work (quite recently in fact, I went through a “complete collection” thing during my breaks at my job this summer) and I really enjoy it. My only complaint with Sherlock Holmes is the fact that you can rarely solve the mystery alongside him, as his powers of deduction are so strong that they are superhuman. He also doesn’t clue you in on things as he goes along, because he never discusses things until the end, and Watson is not as good at providing vital information to the reader as Sherlock would be if the stories were told from his perspective. Sadly, this carried into the movie, so I didn’t even think of it as a mystery.
In fact, the movie is presented as an action flick. There are even explosions, which I didn’t expect from a movie about Holmes. These sequences are visually entertaining, especially when Holmes plans things out ahead of time in his mind and then carries it out. On one hand, I was tempted to be discouraged by the fact that the Holmes story turned into an action one, but meh, it was fun.
I didn’t like the fact that the characters presented the case in the movie as a “Holmes, you must save the world!” kind of situation. Of course, the matter turned out to be much smaller than originally presented, but the whole time I was thinking “he’s an investigator, not a super hero.” Anyone who has read The Hound of the Baskervilles knows what will happen as soon as magic is brought up as being involved in the case.
Let’s see, Dr. Watson was a lot of fun, I enjoyed his presentation a lot. I don’t know if he would have really argued with Holmes as much as he did in the movie, but it was funny.
One last comment is that the movie added a romance between Irene (from A Scandal in Bohemia) and Holmes. In the case, Holmes does seem to be attracted to Irene, but insists that emotions get in the way of rational thought, so he never pursues her. However, the relationship was portrayed in a way befitting of Holmes- no trust, lots of comical give and take, and no real sense of permanence- so it wasn’t too unpalatable.
The acting was good and I really enjoyed the interactions between the characters. I did have trouble understanding Holmes when he spoke though. You had to sort of…adjust to his accent. After a while I got it, but I missed a lot of his dialogue in the beginning.
So yeah, it was a fun ride, but wasn’t the kind of movie you’ll remember forever. Go see it if you like Holmes though! Dr. Watson was just adorable <3
~Jen
Well, I thought the film was an absolute hoot.
You do bring up some good points, though. I’m not really familiar with Doyle’s work, but I am familiar with other iterations of the Holmes character, and I rather liked this presentation of a younger, more careless investigator. But it was a little more action-packed than I had hoped for. The slow-motion tactical planning during the boxing scene was one of my favorite moments on the silver screen, though. I really liked that sequence.
And yes, even I must say, Watson was indeed adorable. I thought that Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. had a lot of on-screen chemistry and worked very well together.
Dr. Watson is one of my favorite characters in the whole of the literary world. He’s just adorable, and his presentation in the film was just great. I agree, I thought that Holmes and Watson went together much more than Holmes and Irene (not sexually, obviously, just as a pair). They were great!
I think I would have been entirely besotted by this movie if I were a fan of action… Which I’m not, really, mainly because I can’t stand to see any kind of violence involving “real people” (I can sometimes stomach it in video games). Man, I had so much trouble stomaching Dark Knight, as much as I liked that movie I can’t bring myself to watch it again.
I agree, I loved the boxing sequence, although I mostly listened to it rather than looking. So clever!