Movie and Television Reviews

What a pleasure it was to sit and watch Sherlock Holmes. No lasers, super-powers, political agendas, 3-D effects. Just a rollicking tale, well-acted and directed.

Well, OK, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is a super-hero of the James Bond, semi-realistic kind; except that Sherlock trades the ability to bed foreign spies for a more-developed sense of perception and steel-trap logic.

And, the scenes of Sherlock deducing stuff are as good as one could have hoped for. Sherlock driven nearly mad at a restaurant by his uncontrollable ability to notice minute details really shows how accursed this aptitude might be, a premise I don't remember from the older movies. His working himself into an almost trance-like state to piece together the amassed clues further illuminates this interesting perspective.

We also get to see Sherlock rough it up a bit. His smarts applied to martial combat is a nice touch.

Little dandiness, however. This Sherlock is a lonely, eccentric rogue with a gift that makes relating to others challenging.

SH begins with Sherlock interrupting a Lord Blackwell's ritual murder of a beautiful maiden and then reels off an effective extended character exposition of Sherlock and Dr. Watson, focusing in part on their queer co-dependence.

The only woman Sherlock's loved, the Victorian hottie Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), enters the picture when we're quite familiar with the duo to ask Sherlock's help in tracking down a midget.

From there, Sherlock uses his powers to find and check the apparently resurrected Lord Blackwell, who convinces a Masonic-like order to attempt a take-over of Britain and, from there, the world.

It's all good fun, even if it doesn't reach a level of super-intensity. It's better than the similar National Treasure movies, anyways. Like in NT, I liked the historical allusions. Britain dominating the world wasn't completely outside of the pale in the mid 1860s and the writers explain how the American Civil War makes an English conquest possible.

Robert Downey continues his scorched-earth comeback, imbuing Sherlock Holmes with a deep charisma. Jude Law as Watson is fine. Mark Watson makes a convincing pre-Black Sabbath Satanist.

SH unabashedly dips into the bag of cinema tricks to pull out the slightly differently-perspectived or new-scened flashbacks that both explain the plot and make us feel inferior to Sherlock for not being able to notice the things genius detectives do.

If I can fault the movie, it's perhaps in its romantic sub-plots. The movie goes not for a love triangle, but a love pentagram. The Sherlock-Adler one is fine, if little under-cooked. The concept of a lover who's also a rival is solid and Downey's acting does give one the sense that she's the only woman who can fluster him. Sherlock seems to find her nude-ness distracting. They hug, kiss once. Yet, we never see them close to passion. I don't want to over-emphasize this aspect of the movie. It's not bad, certainly doesn't ruin the film, and understandably incomplete considering the restricted screen time. In fact, forget I brought it up.

Watson has a fiance who's essentially a prop.

Sherlock and Watson give off a borderline-gay vibe. Their dialogue seems unrealistic unless unless seen this way: I don't think real guys bicker about waistcoats and try to ruin the other's relationships with the opposite sex.

Politics/Message:

The Masonic cult wants to seize power to help the teeming, ignorant masses who'd be lost without their enlightened guidance. Know any political parties with that attitude?

Not too much besides that: Friendship, loyalty, I guess.

Follow up:

Directed by
Guy Ritchie

Writing credits
(WGA)
Michael Robert Johnson (screenplay) and
Anthony Peckham (screenplay) and
Simon Kinberg (screenplay)

Lionel Wigram (screen story) and
Michael Robert Johnson (screen story)

Arthur Conan Doyle (characters Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson)

Cast (in credits order)

Robert Downey Jr. ... Sherlock Holmes

Jude Law ... Dr. John Watson

Rachel McAdams ... Irene Adler

Mark Strong ... Lord Blackwood

Eddie Marsan ... Inspector Lestrade
Robert Maillet ... Dredger
Geraldine James ... Mrs. Hudson

Kelly Reilly ... Mary Morstan

William Houston ... Constable Clark
Hans Matheson ... Lord Coward
James Fox ... Sir Thomas

William Hope ... Ambassador Standish
Clive Russell ... Captain Tanner
Oran Gurel ... Reordan

David Garrick ... McMurdo
Kylie Hutchinson ... Maid
Andrew Brooke ... Guard Captain
Tom Watt ... Carriage Driver
John Kearney ... Carriage Driver
Sebastian Abineri ... Coach Driver
Jonathan Gabriel Robbins ... Guard

James A. Stephens ... Captain Philips
Terry Taplin ... Groundskeeper
Bronagh Gallagher ... Palm Reader
Ed Tolputt ... Anonymous Man

Joe Egan ... Big Man
Jefferson Hall ... Young Guard
Miles Jupp ... Waiter
Marn Davies ... Police Officer
Andrew Greenough ... Prison Guard
Ned Dennehy ... Man with Roses

Martin Ewens ... Removable Man
Amanda Grace Johnson ... Young Woman Sacrifice
James Greene ... Governor
David Emmings ... Grave Policeman
Ben Cartwright ... Grave Policeman
Chris Sunley ... Grave Policeman
Michael Jenn ... Preacher
Timothy O'Hara ... Porter / Smith
Guy Williams ... Golden Dawn Envoy
Peter Miles ... Thug
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Produced by
Bruce Berman .... executive producer
Steve Clark-Hall .... co-producer
Susan Downey .... producer
Peter Eskelsen .... associate producer
Dana Goldberg .... executive producer
Dan Lin .... producer
Joel Silver .... producer
Michael Tadross .... executive producer
Lionel Wigram .... producer

Original Music by
Hans Zimmer

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