So, about how Sherlock Holmes totally blew me away. Yes, that's right, Guy Ritchie delivers once again. As with most remakes that I get wind of, I'm usually like "WTF?! Why?!" But I gave this one a chance 1) because it's Sherlock Fucking Holmes, bitches...and 2) it's Guy Ritchie directing.
I think this is Ritchie's first mainstream film to my knowledge. You may remember Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (EPIC WIN), Snatch, and Rock 'n' Rolla, and many other indie crime films. His directorial "show first-explain later" style is SO evident in 'Sherlock Holmes', it really isn't even a joke, but the two genres (Doyle and Ritchie) mesh SO incredibly well that you can't really think too much about it.
Sherlock Holmes and his partner, Dr. John Watson have been successfully solving cases throughout England for years. This most recent case was that of Lord Blackwood, a man who murdered in the name of his black magic. Finally hanged for his crimes, it comes as an unpleasant surprise when he literally rises from the grave. And so it is up to Holmes and Watson to find him and stop him before his killing spree devours the whole of England.
Robert Downey, Jr. is right at home in the role of the infamous detective. He plays another character with the wit and confidence of his Tony Stark persona in "Iron Man". And I was incredibly happy with his character choices (which were probably mostly Ritchies, but w/e). We all think of Holmes as being neat and clean and proper, but that was never how I personally had envisioned the character. I liken him to Henry Higgins of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion": a learned and incredibly intelligent man on the inside, but a curmudgeonly, unshaven, ill-kept man in the outside. Absolutely perfect, and this performance really spoke to me. Jude Law plays his right hand man, Dr. Watson, in a role much smarter than many incarnations of Watson in the past. Here, the two are equals, more than hero and sidekick, and their chemistry is incredible. Even when the plot gets a bit dry and drawn out, the pleasure of seeing their continuous verbal quarrels worth the admission price alone.
However, as you know, no matter how epically awesome I find a movie, there is always one thing that will really piss me off. This time, it's Irene Adler. First of all, I hate American characters mixed in with all-British casts (but she was in the books, and I hated her anyway). Second, I don't like Rachel McAdams. There were so many other actresses that I would have liked to have seen in this role *cough*Julianne Moore*cough*. Maybe that would have made me like the character a bit more. Third, *SPOILER ALERT* who runs onto the highest possible point on an unfinished bridge to get away from people chasing her, only to realize that once she's on the bridge that she well knows is unfinished that she can't actually get to the other side? Irene. Who falls from said highest point on said bridge about 60 feet straight down onto some flimsy scaffolding that MIRACULOUSLY didn't break, into an incredibly cunbersome position that actually should have severed her spinal cord in 2 places, and then just sits up and talks as if there isn't a single scratch on her body? Irene. (Both of which are more FAILs in writing...not really McAdams' fault there). But I don't care. Fuck her. She's a terrible character who did nothing in the movie except wear pants in a society where no self-respecting woman in her right mind would be caught dead wearing pants--and to make the movie 30 minutes longer than it needed to be. Besides, Holmes doesn't need a love interest thrown into the mix. That's what Watson is for.
All in all, I give this film a WIN for being an AMAZING reboot of a timeless classic.
P.S. I hear there's a sequel in the works! But I keep hearing that Brad Pitt will play Professor Moriarty...Fuck him. I vote for Johnny Depp. Besides, the man needs to get away from Burton and Bonham-Carter and he needs to stop being typecast.
