My Review of "Sherlock Holmes"

Since so many people have been asking me this question, and since it relates to the last blog that I posted, I think it might be a good idea to go ahead and answer it here.  The question is “What did you think of the new Sherlock Holmes movie?" 

And that’s a very difficult question to answer! 

First of all, let me say that I found it thoroughly entertaining.  I was never bored, and I didn’t regret for a moment those two hours taken out of my Christmas Day.  I was either laughing, gasping, or shaking my head the whole time.  I found the movie visually stunning.  I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the extensive use of CGI in the backgrounds, the gripe that the movie made Victorian London look “grimy” and “dirty.”  Hello---what do you think Victorian London looked like, Disney World?  If anything, this seemed far more realistic to me than any other portrayal of that era has appeared.  To quote my colleague Dr. Anne Rodrick, there’s a reason why this was the industrial age, and all those sooty walls were right in character.  Another visual treat was, quite frankly, the lead actors.  Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are quite nice to look at.  I hear there were some pretty actresses in there as well, but I’ll have to take someone’s word on that, because I barely noticed.  The music was good and naturally this movie, like just about all others these days, was set up for a sequel, one which I will gladly by advance tickets for. 

All these things being said, I will concede that the movie had its flaws.  The biggest one was simply the story.  As my companion pointed out, the plot was completely over-the-top, the villain’s ambitions in the “Doctor Evil” vein that we have all come to mock.  It’s a pity that the filmmakers couldn’t be content with a plotline that would have better reflected Doyle’s style.  Why wouldn’t it have been enough for Holmes to have pursued a missing jewel, or a stolen paper, or solved a locked room murder?  There are plenty of great stories already in the canon, including many that, like the movie, have a ‘supernatural’ base of terror and astonishment.  (Anyone remember the Hound of the Baskervilles?)  By going so far over the top the film ventured dangerously close to parody.  I’m also not thrilled with some of the changes that were made to established characters (no, Irene Adler was not a jewel thief and there’s no evidence that she and Holmes ever actually ‘shagged’) though I did like the implication that there is someone even more dastardly waiting in the wings to do more mischief. 

This movie did catch the great relationship between Holmes and Watson, but unfortunately it played a bit more like a snappy ‘bromance’ of the 21^st century than the deep male friendships of the 19^th.  But that I can forgive because I realize most audiences have only ‘heard’ of Holmes and never actually read about him.  If the movie inspires more people to read the real canon, then I will render even louder applause.

But ultimately, I must confess that I while I enjoyed the film, this is not “my Sherlock.”  As much as I enjoyed RDJ’s interpretation, it is not the correct one for me.  I could spend all day picking things apart, the most obviously being that though Holmes was a slob about housekeeping, he was always fastidiously dressed except when in disguise and RDJ looked a bit like he needed to wash up.  That’s not MY Holmes.  This was Holmes as a “hot mess,” a man riddled with problems and needs.  I agree Holmes was an emotional disaster, but in my reading of the canon, Watson would be the only one who ever realized just how badly his friend’s great intelligence was also his great curse. 

I’m still waiting for someone to play my Holmes on screen or stage.  Jeremy Brett came the closest; I think Hugh Laurie could come even closer, if someone would give him a chance.  (After all, he’s been playing Holmes for years on HOUSE anyway…)  But ultimately, for all true Sherlockians, Holmes resides in our heads and hearts, not on film or behind footlights.  It’s why we allow so many people to play him, because part of the game is knowing than while virtually every incarnation can entertain us, no one will ever get Mr. Holmes (or Dr. Watson) completely right.