Sherlock Holmes Movie Review

First off, I'd like to say to every single person present and reading this, that had read my earlier post on how awful this movie was going to be: I'm sorry! *holds hands up* I was totally and completely wrong. In every aspect of the word.

Now with where to start...oh yes, and before I begin, I'm just going to mention that there may be slight spoilers in this review...nothing major, I don't want to completely ruin it. But just know that I may mention some specific parts of the movie :)

The basics, first.

Director: Guy Ritchie
Rating: PG-13
Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Eddie Marsan, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, etc.
Duration: 2 hours 14 minutes
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars (I shall elaborate on why later)

As most of you know, when I first found out about this movie, I was less than thrilled. I found some pictures and the teaser trailer and was completely disgusted. I vented on my family, who could have cared less, and refused to have anything to do with the movie at all. But, after opening day, I started to hear lots of good things - the thing that made me want to see it was when a friend of mine said that the movie was SO much better than what the trailer made it out to be...and he told me that I would love it, as long as I went in with an open mind.

So...I convinced my dad to take me today, New Year's day, and the whole week preceding this event I continued to read reviews and grew more and more excited with every one I read - everyone was loving the movie, and said that RDJ, though he didn't look like the Holmes they pictured, proved to be a really good one.

With that said, I will begin the REAL review of the movie :D

First off, I have to say something about the music. I heard Hans Zimmer (who also wrote the scores for two of the three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, of which I own the soundtracks to, and also for Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, which was one of my favorite movies growing up) wrote the score, and was thrilled. I was entirely captivated by the music...it totally captured the quirkiness of RDJ's Holmes...it rather reminded me of the eccentric Jack Sparrow music from PotC :) This made me quite happy. I definitely will consider buying the soundtrack, I loved it that much.

The cinematography was outstanding. So was the backdrop - Victorian London. The scenery was so realistic, everything from the sky-shots of London (which...I believe were CGI, but I'm not sure...I couldn't really tell :D) to the partially constructed London bridge...looked incredibly real. I was quite impressed. The costumes were great too...the hot pink dress Irene Adler wears is really gorgeous and not quite as out-of-place as I thought it would be.

Now onto the actors. I was quite miffed when I saw Robert Downey, Jr. had been cast for the role of our favorite detective; he didn't look the part, and I've seen him in commercials for action movies like Iron Man and X-Men...I wondered how on earth he was going to pull such a big role off without screwing it up majorly. I was, thankfully, proved quite wrong :) I was really impressed, to say the least. I could tell RDJ spent lots of time studying other portrayals of Holmes from the past...I saw several shots of JB's 'hand-tenting' (lol) and the 'twitchy half-smile' (this made me very happy, lol). He captured Holmes' eccentricity well, I think, and brought something of his own into this new portrayal of Holmes. Though he was quite short (shorter than Watson...which bothered me a little, but one gets used to it I suppose) and didn't wear a stovepipe or a deerstalker (unless I missed it...for most of the movie it was either a bowler or a beret), I couldn't really find any major flaws with his part :) He definitely brought a new dimension to the character of Holmes, and I was very pleased. Oh, and one other thing...for being an American actor, his accent was flawless, imo :)

And Jude Law. Good heavens. His Watson, in all the history of Watsons, was my absolute FAVORITE. I think I do no harm in saying that his portrayal of Holmes' best friend was the best I've ever seen. I do think he stole the show at some parts :) Law did an incredible job, imo, showing us the tougher side of Watson - the side that didn't put up with Holmes' foul moods and who was always there whenever Holmes needed him. I was especially impressed with one scene in particular, where he held off some of the 'bad guys' pretty much on his own :) I was really pleased at the Holmes/Watson relationship...I had heard rumors about Guy Ritchie's wanting to make them homosexual...but was super excited to see Mary Morstan featured in the film quite a bit as well, as Watson's girlfriend (I breathed a sigh of relief at mention of her name :D). Anyhow, the H/W relationship was superb...I was so glad to see Watson featured as a smart, able-bodied companion who was able to make his own way in the world...and not the bumbling sidekick we see in the Rathbone series. One other thing I'd like to mention was how pleased I was that they remembered Watson's injury...there wasn't a mention of it at all, but I noticed about halfway through the film that he walked with a limp...and a walking stick :) (not that this is a good thing...but it was canonical!!)

One thing I thought would be absolutely terrible about this film was the romance in the plot - I mean, come on, Sherlock Holmes doesn't fall in love with anyone! I was afraid for the racy scenes they show in the trailers. Turns out, they cut out both of the actual 's-word' scenes :) That made me really happy (if you can't tell, I was really happy during the whole thing, lol). There was one scene full of suggestive material...but they didn't actually show anything, cept for the part in the trailer where he was on the bed with the pillow. *coughs* Um..yeah. Anyhow, it was rather necessary to the plot (though it doesn't seem like it, does it?), so I was ok with it, especially since they didn't show anything. And the whole duration of the 'racy' scene was about 3 minutes. And there was the only one scene :) So I was thrilled on that point too.

The plot was intriguing...though at times a bit disturbing. I'm not going to give too much away, so I'll just say this: they're trying to catch a cult leader, Lord Blackwood, who has murdered several innocent people as part of his rituals (if you want to read a more detailed summary...you can just google it). So yes, the plot was incredibly entrancing, and held my attention, which I was a little bit worried about (especially after I learned how long the movie is...I wasn't sure if I would get bored!).

As compared to the canon, I was really impressed. The screenwriters obviously spent hours upon hours scrutinizing the canon page by page...I lost count of the number of quotes RDJ uses straight from the books. There were many characters they had mentioned in the movie that were in the books...including both inspectors Gregson and Lestrade (Lestrade being the more prominent one, of course). There were also a couple of other cases mentioned briefly...I fail to remember which ones, though. And the ending was executed in perfect Holmesian/Canonical style - Holmes reveals his deductions and the entire solution to the case before our very eyes, using flashbacks from scenes in the movie to show us what we so obviously missed (this was one thing I loved about the movie - it could be solved by the viewer, if he was paying close attention. Not one little detail was concealed...everything was in perfect view to the viewer, if you're looking for it! I was pretty impressed, and when I reminisced later I realized that every flashback showed exactly what should have been obvious if one was trying to solve a case. The beauty of Sherlock Holmes :D)

Alright, now for the dislikes. Most of the stuff wasn't really major...

I really didn't like Holmes' overall lack of hygiene. I don't think this was ever mentioned in the canon...and it was just really odd for me, after watching hours and hours of JB, who was a clean, gentlemanly Holmes. But I got used to it, and it was fine after awhile.

They never once mentioned that Watson was Holmes' biographer/chronicler. There is one moment toward the end of the movie where Mary looks into one of his trunks and mentions something about the books inside being his adventures, but that was all. I was slightly bothered by this...but it was of no consequence.

Irene Adler's part. I think they could have done just fine without her, although I can see, after seeing the ending, why she was in it - her part led straight into the plot for the sequel :D But I'm not saying anymore, I'll leave you guessing.

The black magic stuff. I really didn't like all the witchcraft...but hey, it's a Holmes case, so if you can get past the disturbing stuff they do it's all good.

All of the fighting. There was a TON of fist-fighting and boxing, plus a couple of explosions. Which all added to the blood-and-dirt-stained Holmes. But again, it really is minor when you look at the movie overall...sometimes it was necessary. Not to mention, it's also an action-adventure movie...so I went in expecting some violence and blood. And I definitely got it.

And then there were a couple of scenes I didn't really care for overall, and a couple of really unnecessary, short things that rather annoyed me and had nothing to do with anything at all. But I'll let you all see the movie before I reveal which ones they were :)

There were at least 3 times where RDJ was mumbling...either that, or talking really low, and really fast. And with the accent it made it really hard to understand what he was saying. So I missed those few little parts of the dialogue...though I don't think it made much of a difference, because I still understood what was going on.

Oh, yes, one other thing I noticed...it looks like the opening shot of Baker Street is right out of the Granada opening credits!! *pumps fist* It was awesome. I looked twice :)

Alright, I think I'm finished now. Overall, I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars...obviously because the good I saw in it WAY outweighed the parts I didn't like. It was well-filmed, well-written, and the actors did a great job portraying their parts. I can't wait for the inevitable sequel, and I sincerely hope that Downey and Law can come back for the next one :) It was well worth my Christmas gift card! I will say, fwtw, my dad loved it, and has been talking about it all day. If that's what it takes to convert him into a Holmesian, I'm glad to do it :) He keeps bringing up that he'd like to see it again, now that he knows what to look for...hmm...*grin*

I hope the review was worth the wait...and I hope it encourages you to go off to the nearest theater and see it while it's still out! I would go back again in a heartbeat. Who knows...perhaps I will end up adding it to my DVD collection once it comes out :)

And, ftr...is it ok to have a crush on both Holmes AND Watson?

Gee, thanks Jude Law.

*giggles*