Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Directed by Guy Ritchie

Story by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson

Screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg

Based on the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan, Robert Maillet, Kelly Reilly, William Houston, Hans Matheson, James Fox and William Hope

It was a struggle trying to find a movie to be covered today. I have seen almost every single movie that was released that year. I thought I would see a movie that I didn't completely see. Sherlock Holmes was the choice. I know that RDJ was a Golden Globe for this "comedy". It was nominated for two Academy Awards. I like the movie, but I think Sherlock Holmes condescends to the viewer.

Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr) is quite different than that what we have seen before. He is more a brawler with a brain than anything else. Him and his long-suffering assistant, Dr. Watson (Law) solved a case by arresting Lord Blackwood (Strong). Blackwood is subsequently hanged. Holmes is depressed that is was the last case as Watson is moving on with his fiancé Mary (Reilly). It is not until rumors of Lord Blackwood rising from the dead would trigger of Holmes and Watson's greatest cases to date.

Guy Ritchie is known for action oriented movies. It comes to know surprise that he would make Sherlock Holmes a 19th century badass. I guess, the image of the stereotypical Holmes with that hat, the large pipe, injecting himself with morphine and taking a bump of cocaine is ingrained in my mind. I'm not saying that I hated RDJ's portrayal, but I have a bias. I will say that this Sherlock Holmes' powers of deduction makes him more of a condescending jerk than being a brilliant detective. It's like the movie punishes you for not paying attention to every minute detail that happened in the movie.

That being said. I enjoyed the acting in the film Mark Strong was very good as the adversary. Does he not make a great bad guy? I liked Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, the woman that outsmarted Holmes a couple of times in the past. Everybody else was fine.

My Rating


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