Sherlock Holmes movie comments
Dec. 28th, 2009 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gategrrlWell, that was a barrel full of monkey fun. Yeah, could Jude Law and Robert Downey have laid the slashy subtext...er, TEXT...on any thicker? Holy crap. "Don't get excited," says Holmes to Watson as he reaches into Watson's pocket (I *think* it was a pocket!) to retrieve something in the middle of a fight with the gigantic Frenchman. Sure. I won't! I found myself chuckling or giggling over adult level jokes that my kids were both, "Huh? Mom, what's so funny?"
I loved Rachel Adam's Irene Adler: no fragile Victorian woman is she! She kicks ass as much as the two men do! And Watson's fiance--they could have written her as being in total competition with Holmes (who was in competition with HER) but didn't take Holme's bait at any time.
There was some weirdness in this movie version of Holmes. We got to see how he thinks things through, and while he's a slob and completely lives in his mind, Mermaid commented on how much like Monk he was in the emphasis on the details. Otherwise, Monk and Holmes had nothing in common!
This is also a very active, physical Holmes. This makes sense, when you think about it, I guess. In other movie portrayals, he portrayed as exceedingly cerebral, rather like a milque-toast Agatha Christie Mr. Poirot--but he's not THAT detective either. He can box, he can take care of himself, and uses his fast thinking mind to run through possiblities.
I told my husband that I liked it, but that I'd give it a B+ for a grade. The story backed up and retraced steps here and there (the man at the carriage that Irene Adler gets into) and it's fascinating to see how fast Holmes changes into a disguise. The pacing seemed off here and there for me, but there was enough action and FX sequences to make me go ooo and awww. This movie is FULL of set-pieces.
I think Jude Law was THIS CLOSE to running away with the picture. I'd say, he DID. As good as Downey is, he didn't quite own the role like he owned the Iron Man role and movie, whereas Jude Law? With his olde English face, square jaw and Victorian "feel" he owned the role of Watson and was the engine that drove the relationship between the two men. Without him, you know that Holmes would not be able to function completely or WANT to.
I'd have to see it again to figure out exactly where the minuses were. Perhaps too many green screened backgrounds? The director tried to give London a Big Feel to it, and instead I felt that I was on a Star Trek Holodeck, and expected (sort of) to see Data dressed as Sherlock Holmes to dash out of a doorway instead of Downey!
There's a total lead-in for another movie, what with the mysterious Prof. Moriarty planning something nefarious. There's a touch of steam-punk with the machines the brilliant red-haired dwarf/midget created. One wonders why Moriarty would need to steal bits of other criminal's creations if he's so smart? The exposition at the end was fun, I guess, but with no earlier notation of what he'd found...it felt a little like those detective novels in which the writer leaves out important clues that the detective in the *book* can see plainly because of their specialized knowledge, but that the reader has no idea about. It felt like a cheat. But the bad guy got his just desserts, of course, but the bigger fish got away with what he wanted.
I wonder how many movies are planned? Two or three more? Or until Jude Law and RDjr ask for too much money?
I loved Rachel Adam's Irene Adler: no fragile Victorian woman is she! She kicks ass as much as the two men do! And Watson's fiance--they could have written her as being in total competition with Holmes (who was in competition with HER) but didn't take Holme's bait at any time.
There was some weirdness in this movie version of Holmes. We got to see how he thinks things through, and while he's a slob and completely lives in his mind, Mermaid commented on how much like Monk he was in the emphasis on the details. Otherwise, Monk and Holmes had nothing in common!
This is also a very active, physical Holmes. This makes sense, when you think about it, I guess. In other movie portrayals, he portrayed as exceedingly cerebral, rather like a milque-toast Agatha Christie Mr. Poirot--but he's not THAT detective either. He can box, he can take care of himself, and uses his fast thinking mind to run through possiblities.
I told my husband that I liked it, but that I'd give it a B+ for a grade. The story backed up and retraced steps here and there (the man at the carriage that Irene Adler gets into) and it's fascinating to see how fast Holmes changes into a disguise. The pacing seemed off here and there for me, but there was enough action and FX sequences to make me go ooo and awww. This movie is FULL of set-pieces.
I think Jude Law was THIS CLOSE to running away with the picture. I'd say, he DID. As good as Downey is, he didn't quite own the role like he owned the Iron Man role and movie, whereas Jude Law? With his olde English face, square jaw and Victorian "feel" he owned the role of Watson and was the engine that drove the relationship between the two men. Without him, you know that Holmes would not be able to function completely or WANT to.
I'd have to see it again to figure out exactly where the minuses were. Perhaps too many green screened backgrounds? The director tried to give London a Big Feel to it, and instead I felt that I was on a Star Trek Holodeck, and expected (sort of) to see Data dressed as Sherlock Holmes to dash out of a doorway instead of Downey!
There's a total lead-in for another movie, what with the mysterious Prof. Moriarty planning something nefarious. There's a touch of steam-punk with the machines the brilliant red-haired dwarf/midget created. One wonders why Moriarty would need to steal bits of other criminal's creations if he's so smart? The exposition at the end was fun, I guess, but with no earlier notation of what he'd found...it felt a little like those detective novels in which the writer leaves out important clues that the detective in the *book* can see plainly because of their specialized knowledge, but that the reader has no idea about. It felt like a cheat. But the bad guy got his just desserts, of course, but the bigger fish got away with what he wanted.
I wonder how many movies are planned? Two or three more? Or until Jude Law and RDjr ask for too much money?
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Date: 2009-12-29 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 01:37 am (UTC)