My Sherlock Holmes Adventure – a movie review

I wasn’t sure on what to expect from the movie.  I’ve been a Sherlockian for over 20 years. I was excited.  It was the first Holmes movie in more than 20 years.  I had my doubts about Downey.  Not in his acting however or that he was not British.  One of the big complaints from some Holmes fans about Downey was the fact that he was not British. Having seen him numerous times in Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin was British) where he had to learn 2-3 different accents to cover different eras of Chaplin’s life, I knew he could handle that.

Jude Law looked excellent as Watson, and from the trailers he seemed good, but I was going to hold off final opinion until I saw them in action.

I also had never seen a Guy Ritchie movie before.  Other than having violence in his work, I really didn’t know what form he would take Holmes.

I went to the theater the day after Christmas.  It was a busy Saturday afternoon and a lot of people were outside. I stood in one of the two lines.  And as I stood there, I listened to what people were getting tickets to see.  Most were for Holmes shich made me smile and also made me nervous.  What it gets sold out before it was my turn?

“Sorry, it was just sold out.  The last ticket was to the person right in front of you”

But I held my breath and waited.

“Three for Sherlock Holmes. Five for Sherlock Holmes. Two for Sherlock Holmes…”

After serveral people on both sides getting Holmes tickets, it was my turn.

“One for Sherlock Holmes”

After the poor guy had to type in my number because the card was worn, which also added a little tension thinking that it would sell out, he gave me the little ticket to sign, then handed me the movie ticket and receipt ticket.  I smiled and headed in.
I gave it to the guy inside who was talking to a couple of the other patrons about how he was having trouble saying awake while working.

I walked in the room where it was playing.  Packed!  I looked around for a place to sit.  Down…Down…Down the aisle I went.  Finally I settled in the middle of the third row.  They were playing one of those commercials for Coca-Cola and Walmart with the young guy going through a party, singing.  I looked around.  There were young teens, older couples, and people my age or thereabouts.

Good size crowd.  Very good size.

Trailers started.  First one showed Robert Downey Jr sitting in a crowded courtroom.  It was a trailer for Iron Man 2.  After a few other trailers, the cobble streets of London filled the screen…

The Review

I was afraid I wouldn’t like Downey as Holmes, mainly due the physical differences.  It doesn’t seem right that Holmes is shorter than Watson.  And the hair didn’t seem right either.  While I watched the trailers and see Downey, I mainly saw Downey play Holmes… I didn’t see Holmes.  And I was afraid that would be too distracting.  So I decided I would go in based on the other factors, his acting (wasn’t too worried about that) and how he sounded.While it was a little distracting in looks, I quickly was able to put that aside and enjoy the film.  His accent was very good.  He sounded like I expected Holmes to sound.  I liked how he talked his way on how to attack an opponent and the result of hitting/ kicking would do to the poor soul he was fighting.  His meeting with Watson’s fiance Mary (one of the actual characters from the original  stories, first in Sign of Four).  She insists that Holmes give deductions about her, all the while Watson is trying to talk her out of it. Holmes goes through a rapid fire list of things about her, resulting in her throwing her drink in his face (I don’t think Holmes saw that coming 😉 ).

Other deductions were also great such as when Holmes has a bag placed over his head so he couldn’t see where some men were taking him.  When the bag is removed after arriving in a chair in a secret location, the host doesn’t expect Holmes to know where they are at or who the host is.  Holmes then goes through a list of smells, sounds, turns of the carriage that he observed while riding in the carriage and gives the location of where they are and who the gentleman is.

Also I liked how the film showed Holmes’ lack of socializing and “absurd” (to society anyway) way of living. which Watson hits Holmes with while being held in a pen.

Also interesting brief look into why Holmes does not socialize much during the scene with him in the resturant and the sounds and appearances of people get to him for a brief moment as he tries to block it out.

Big arguments about the fighting scene with people saying that Holmes didn’t fight.  While he did not fight a lot, he certainly knew how to and was familiar with martial arts and how to wield a cane.  The picture on the left is from “Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist”, published in 1904.

Ultimate was at the end where Holmes explains how everything happened (though I’ll let you find out what Holmes discovered.)

Things like that gave me a thumbs up for Downey (though Jeremy Brett is still my favorite Holmes).

And now Jude Law as John Watson.  The guy was good. So, so good!  The look, the way he talked.  One hundred percent believable. Unlike Downey, when I looked at Watson, I saw Watson, I didn’t see Law playing Watson.  I put him right up there with David Burke and Edward Hardwicke as great.  Just like the Watson in the stories, he is faithful to his unusual friend but also brutally honest when there’s something that he does not agree with him about.

Rachael McAdams was good as Irene Adler, though I must say I am sick and tired of people putting a romantic spin between her and Holmes.  Though credit goes to the film for showing Holmes not totally interested in her romantically.  And yes, Adler is American (I’ve read some grumblings about that).  She is another character from the original canon, A Scandal in Bohemia (one of my favorite Holmes stories) which was the first Holmes short story.  And yes, she outsmarts Holmes in that.  But there was no hanky-panky with them in there.

Mark Strong was good, though a bit of the stereotypical bad guy.  In parts he kind of reminded me of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.

And hooray for them putting Inspector Lestrade in it, played by Eddie Marsan.  I was wondering if he was going to be in it, and also how his name would be pronounced.  Marsan didn’t look rat faced enough so I still will mark down Colin Jeavons as best Lestrade (from the Brett/Burke/Hardwicke series).  And the name is pronounced the same in this film as it was in the Rathbone films, with a short “a”.  When I originally read the stories, I read it with a long “a”, like in” trade”.

The soundtrack

The minute I found out that Hans Zimmer wrote the soundtrack, I knew I would like it.  Turns out that not only the main theme is great, but the whole thing is good!  Love the sound of a broken piano, it added a new fresh sound to Holmes.  While listening to it at home, I looked through a bunch of pictures of Rathbone/Bruce and Brett/Burke/Hardwicke, the music still fit.  Thumbs up for Zimmer (again)!  I am listening to it repeatedly as I am writing this review. Click hear to have a listen from the movie official site.  Just let it play and you can listen to the whole thing.  If press the triangles, it’ll just play samples.  Here’s a great article from the London Times about how Zimmer created the unique sounds: “Hans Zimmer: ‘The sound of Sherlock Holmes? It’s a broken piano'”

Overall

I had the theme song stuck in my head a couple hours after the movie, my mind a whirl wind of positive things things to say about the film.  I was smiling throughout the whole thing, totally taking up in what was going on, and trying to figure out the little mysteries as they came up.  And with all the positive things I’ve see in tweets and reviews, looks like there will be more interest in the great detective, which, for a long time fan, is always a good thing 🙂

Favorite Scenes/Lines

(Holmes pointing his violin bow at Watson)
Watson: Get that thing out of my face
Holmes: It’s not in your face, it’s in my hand.
Watson: Get that thing that’s in your hand out of my face.
———————–
Scenes with the Big Guy that Holmes fights twice, and they talk French to each other. Ha! Very good!  A Indiana Jones moment at the shipyard when Holmes throws a small hammer at him and it just bounces off. Reminds me of when Indy fought that big Nazi by the fighter plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
———————–
Holmes: Save your bullets Watson.
(a few seconds later they both fire their guns, Holmes doing most of the shooting)
Watson: What was that about saving bullets?
———————–
Holmes trying to unlock a door. Watson comes up and kicks the door in.
———————–

Not a deerstalker/curved shape pipe/”Elementary my dear Watson” in sight! Yay!

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There were a few of classic Holmes sayings. Two that I remember:

“Data, data, data.  I can not make bricks without clay”

“”It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”

And finally, a cool trailer….

I had posted trailer #2 in my last regular post, but a much better one was released later:

This movie will definately be on my “DVDs to get” list!