SHERLOCK HOLMES

“SHERLOCK HOLMES” (Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law & Rachel McAdams)

Sometimes screwing with classic works of the past is a very bad idea; sometimes it surprises you (Take the new Star Trek – though some would argue correctly that ST isn’t a ‘classic’ in the same sense as Sherlock Holmes... Yeah, no sh*t, Sherlock)
But this wasn’t some yahoo’s take on one of the most well known literary characters, this was Robert Downey, Jr.’s take - & it works because of him. But it doesn’t work on all levels & the 3 main culprits are 1/the director 2/the writer & 3/the lead actress.
No, I can’t say that I’ve ‘enjoyed’ any of Guy Ritchie’s previous films all that much – but this is clearly the best of the lot & even though there were times when the ‘slow motion action sequences’ were annoying, he still allowed Downey to be Downey & thus created an entertaining film in spite of himself.
The writing irked me because the story wasn’t exceedingly ‘clever’ & even though the Downey / Law scenes as Holmes & Watson included some smirk-worthy tete a tetes, the basic plotline & villain were somewhat lame. Mark Stone, whom I’ve liked in the past, doesn’t bring much to the table other than a crooked fang as serial killer Lord Blackwood.
& the biggest disappointment is Rachel McAdams – so good in previous years, this is her second bad performance in a row (In the I wish I could forget I ever saw it ‘Time Traveler’s Wife’) She plays American pick pocket/low rent thief Irene Adler & simply seemed out of context with everything that was going on around her in every scene she was in; she was too pretty, too ‘pristine’ in her appearance to be a ‘common’ thief/ the fact that she spoke in her normal voice was a distraction (People who spend any amount of time in a foreign country DO tend to start sounding like those around her so even if Rachel could only manage a ‘poor’ English accent that would have been more believable than none at all) & finally - something I can't quite put my finger on - for whatever reason, she didn't come across as someone who 'fit' in the period she was suppose to be reflecting - & I realize that isn't an easy thing to do & many actors fail at it (Though Downey & Law managed quite well, thank you) & is another reason why I normally avoid 'period' pieces...
What this film had going for it in my eyes were the 4 lead actors & 2 of them let me down with substandard performances, yet still, I enjoyed it... The Power Of Downey Compels Me!
Eddie Marsen plays Inspector Lestrade, & as everyone knows that’s a role best suited for someone without much of a personality & Eddie fits the bill perfectly!
So they took Sherlock to a different level – Who cares? Did you really want to see another stuffy Basil Rathbone-like portrayal? Seriously, did you? It wasn’t the direction they took the character in that bugged me as much as the senseless slow motion/FF jerky ‘cage match’ fight scene Ritchie felt the need to include (To entice the WWF crowd into the theatre perhaps?) The fight scene with the ‘giant’ in the shipyard worked because the goon was a hired hand of Blackwood – but putting Sherlock Holmes in a bare knuckled fist fight in a pit with a dimwit numbskull for no reason whatsoever was stupid.
In the end, the Downey, Jr. – Jude Law combination of Holmes & Watson won out over the annoyances & I would call this a film worth seeing because of them & I’ll be looking forward to the next installment – provided – there’s a different director, a different writer & someone teaches Rachel how to speak with an English accent – or find someone a little less attractive who can... I wonder if Vera Farminga can do a Cockney voice?