Sherlock Holmes

I admit it; I have never read a single Sherlock Holmes book. Sorry if I have alienated myself to you, but I couldn’t in good conscience write a review without saying so. The fact is that Holmes is such an iconic character that I still feel reasonably certain I can criticize a movie about him without any knowledge of the source material. I have seen many a movie (The Hounds of the Baskerville, Young Sherlock Holmes, Without a Clue, The Great Mouse Detective, etc), or even general pop culture references to Sherlock Holmes, so why not? Let’s do this thing. The newest incarnation is the reboot by director Guy Ritchie, and you should curb your expectations.

The world’s greatest detective is back, and this time he must stop an enemy bent on using the dark arts to bring down the British government. Guy Ritchie is a really good filmmaker. Some of his movies are amazing. So I expected too much I think, because this movie seemed mediocre to me. The first half of the movie was incredibly boring. And the big action sequences seemed tacked on (I’m pretty sure powers of deduction alone do not a great boxer make). But who cares right? It’s just supposed to be fun after all, and it would have been if I wasn’t so bored. Also, Robert Downey Jr, who is easily one of the best actors of his generation, is surprisingly bad in this role. You never really believe you’re watching Sherlock Holmes, just Robert Downey Jr. About half way through the movie does get more interesting despite being convoluted. But the ending to me was just another blow against this film. Steam punks rejoice, because anachronisms abound. I really hate anachronisms in movies; it shows that the writers didn’t have enough ingenuity to create a story within their own parameters. Now granted, there were no giant steam powered mechanical spiders, but certain things, like chemical warfare, do become pivotal to the plot which is just as unacceptable.

My friends didn’t really seem to mind that stuff, and I probably wouldn’t have either if I hadn’t watched a documentary on World War I and the invention of mustard gas earlier that day. But it is a slap in the face of humanity to discount innovation so greatly that you can just say “well, it could have existed.” Either way none of that is Guy Ritchie’s fault. He does a masterful job of recreating the London of yesteryear, a beautiful landscape for the characters to inhabit. But as far as his movies go it really doesn’t compare to the good ones. And honestly I might be a little too hard on this movie; after all it might be just what the doctor ordered to reinvigorate one of literature's most famous characters. And it really wasn’t all that bad. But I expected better and so I was disappointed more. The movie is really only okay.