Sherlock Holmes – Movie Review
Sherlock Holmes is the latest movie from director Guy Ritchie and stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams. It’s based on the classic Sherlock Holmes
McAdams as Irene Adler
The plot of this one is about Holmes (Downey Jr.) and Watson (Ritchie) trying to stop a criminal who seems to be using magic to murder and apparently has risen from the grave, Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). Holmes is held back by his resentment of Watson for leaving him to move in with his fiance and also by Irene Adler, a love interest/con artist who has not so coincidentally just re-entered his life (played by Rachel McAdams).
Jude Law as Watson
I was pretty excited to see this movie. I’ve always been a Holmes fan and it looked pretty great. Boy was I disappointed. The movie was very pretty. It had that going for it. I really enjoyed the visuals and the style. There was an interesting “steampunk” type vibe going on that I liked. Other than that the movie quickly loses points.
The entire thing can be summed up as unengaging. It just couldn’t keep my interest. Robert Downey Jr. seemed to be channeling Hugh Laurie’s House with a dash of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, which wasn’t bad. Downey Jr. was always interesting in his performance at least, but it just seemed like he was recycling other actors performances. Jude Law as Watson also did a good job and I do have to commend him for that. Speaking of House, the Holmes/Watson relationship was very reminiscent of the House/Wilson relationship. I wonder if the House people did this intentionally and I’ve just never noticed it or if the writers here were copying the show? Like I said I cannot remember much of the books so I don’t remember if their relationship was like this in the books.
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I unfortunately cannot say the same thing of McAdams performance. It was dull and her character felt ultimately useless. I also didn’t buy the relationship between her and Holmes. I get that they needed to inject a woman in there and McAdams is a pretty attractive one, and that her character is actually in the original Holmes stories, but she just didn’t fit in this particular instance.
The movie also seemed to get caught up with too many, too long action sequences. I guess to get the attention of today’s ADD riddled audiences. But there wasn’t enough sleuthing and too much action. A bad mix. I would have preferred a more mentally satisfying take.
But I think the absolute worst thing is that at the very end of the movie, it showed exactly what kind of movie it could have been. During and after Holmes’ wrap-up (which was right out of Psych or Monk) where there was some thought and logic and an exploration into Holmes’ famous nemesis Professor Moriarty. The problem with this is first why are you waiting for the very end of the movie to give us the good stuff? and second this is all used as setup for a sequel and thus leaves the film feeling incomplete.
Overall this might be an OK rental, but I wasn’t crazy about it. If you’re a Downey Jr. fan you’ll have some fun. Although I do actually hope they make a sequel just because that story seems infinitely more interesting