I think Conan Doyle would have approved
Feb. 3rd, 2010 07:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkAs a more or less life long fan of Sherlock Holmes (and Arthur Conan Doyle in general) I was a little hesitant to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie because of the dismissive tone of the reviews. Clueless critics complained about how Holmes and Watson had been turned into modern day action heroes, buddy cops, and so on, thus missing the point of the Holmes character. Don't listen to 'em. These people clearly don't know much about The Canon.
Holmes and Watson were ALWAYS action heroes and they were always the bickering odd couple that nevertheless had each others' backs when the chips were down. And fer God's sake, people, Watson mentions Holmes' enthusiasm for melee style fighting numerous times. He studied boxing in college; he was strong enough to bend a poker in half; he was never in a better mood than when he had the opportunity to get in a good old barroom brawl while he was out gathering intel. When he's not poking people in the eye he's going after them with a stout stick or a riding crop. One of the reasons Holmes always reminds Watson to bring along his service revolver is because Holmes isn't into guns - he'd rather get up close and personal.
But the best thing about this movie is that finally we get to see Watson for what he obviously was if we read between the lines of his stories - a man of action (as Holmes repeatedly calls him) and a fully competent partner in Holmes' investigations. I've generally hated Sherlock Holmes movies because they typically portray Holmes as either glacially remote or a quivering sissy, and Watson as a blustering buffoon. In terms of the dynamic duo, this movie gets it right.
As for the convoluted and melodramatic plot with the supernatural overtones - ever read Hound of the Baskervilles? Doyle would have loved this plot, if he could have gotten away with it.
Doyle might have been a little taken aback by the turn that Irene Adler has taken, but it's a natural progression. I've sometimes thought that Irene was the prototype for the smart, sexy, action vixen that started with Emma Peel and evolved into the kind of females that ring Joss Whedon's chimes. Irene Adler was really quite a daring character for her day. She wasn't an international criminal, but she was "an adventuress" (Victorian speak for "she had sex without being married"). She also disguised herself as a man occasionally so she could run around London having adventures of the non-sexual kind. She was talented and independent and she was smart enough to put one over on the brainiest man alive. Irene Adler is one of the things I most love about Doyle. Not every proper Victorian Brit would come up with a dream girl like that one.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It's surprisingly well written. I'm still not 100% sure that the plot holds together, but I'm not sure that it doesn't either. The dialogue is rapid-fire and witty, the acting is impeccable, the visual details are wonderful, and the method that Ritchie uses for demonstrating Holmes' deductive methods works extremely well. Personally, I would have preferred a somewhat less disreputable version of Holmes, but it's not an unreasonable interpretation. In any case, Robert Downey delivers it with a perfect blend of humor and hunkiness that is definitely reminiscent of Sean Connery's James Bond. But IMHO, Watson makes the movie. Not only does Jude Law have the uncanny ability to steal every scene in every movie I've ever seen him in, the movie is actually more about Watson than it is about Holmes. It's kind of a coming of age story, as Watson tries to move beyond the Peter Pan lifestyle he's been enjoying with Holmes into the grownup world of a responsible job and a family.
Holmes and Watson were ALWAYS action heroes and they were always the bickering odd couple that nevertheless had each others' backs when the chips were down. And fer God's sake, people, Watson mentions Holmes' enthusiasm for melee style fighting numerous times. He studied boxing in college; he was strong enough to bend a poker in half; he was never in a better mood than when he had the opportunity to get in a good old barroom brawl while he was out gathering intel. When he's not poking people in the eye he's going after them with a stout stick or a riding crop. One of the reasons Holmes always reminds Watson to bring along his service revolver is because Holmes isn't into guns - he'd rather get up close and personal.
But the best thing about this movie is that finally we get to see Watson for what he obviously was if we read between the lines of his stories - a man of action (as Holmes repeatedly calls him) and a fully competent partner in Holmes' investigations. I've generally hated Sherlock Holmes movies because they typically portray Holmes as either glacially remote or a quivering sissy, and Watson as a blustering buffoon. In terms of the dynamic duo, this movie gets it right.
As for the convoluted and melodramatic plot with the supernatural overtones - ever read Hound of the Baskervilles? Doyle would have loved this plot, if he could have gotten away with it.
Doyle might have been a little taken aback by the turn that Irene Adler has taken, but it's a natural progression. I've sometimes thought that Irene was the prototype for the smart, sexy, action vixen that started with Emma Peel and evolved into the kind of females that ring Joss Whedon's chimes. Irene Adler was really quite a daring character for her day. She wasn't an international criminal, but she was "an adventuress" (Victorian speak for "she had sex without being married"). She also disguised herself as a man occasionally so she could run around London having adventures of the non-sexual kind. She was talented and independent and she was smart enough to put one over on the brainiest man alive. Irene Adler is one of the things I most love about Doyle. Not every proper Victorian Brit would come up with a dream girl like that one.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It's surprisingly well written. I'm still not 100% sure that the plot holds together, but I'm not sure that it doesn't either. The dialogue is rapid-fire and witty, the acting is impeccable, the visual details are wonderful, and the method that Ritchie uses for demonstrating Holmes' deductive methods works extremely well. Personally, I would have preferred a somewhat less disreputable version of Holmes, but it's not an unreasonable interpretation. In any case, Robert Downey delivers it with a perfect blend of humor and hunkiness that is definitely reminiscent of Sean Connery's James Bond. But IMHO, Watson makes the movie. Not only does Jude Law have the uncanny ability to steal every scene in every movie I've ever seen him in, the movie is actually more about Watson than it is about Holmes. It's kind of a coming of age story, as Watson tries to move beyond the Peter Pan lifestyle he's been enjoying with Holmes into the grownup world of a responsible job and a family.
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Date: 2010-02-04 03:39 am (UTC)Holmes was always able to look really down at heel and scruffy, and was a good skilled fighter. When I was a kid, I wanted to learn baritsu.
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Date: 2010-02-04 03:39 pm (UTC)Unfortunately Lydia, who is the person I most often see movies with, has seen it and disliked it (so no chance of her wanting to see it again). So I don't know if I'll get to it, anyway.
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Date: 2010-02-06 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 04:19 pm (UTC)Remember that picture of Irene Adler that Holmes kept? Every time Irene shows up at the door, he nonchalantly turns it face down so she won't see it. I imagine that little bit of business would be completely lost on people who weren't familiar with the stories. There's tons of stuff like that. Even his later interest in bee biology is foreshadowed by an interesting experiment with flies (and I'm pretty sure that the stuff he was drinking that made the fly experiment so fascinating was belladonna, which we know he had lying around his apartment).
But make no mistake - this is a deliberate and self-conscious updating to a modern genre - I guess you could call it Steampunk Comic Book. It seems to take place on a planet where everybody is about 50% stronger than they are on ours, where injuries heal overnight and outrunning explosions is only a little harder than getting across a busy street against the light. It's not exactly a LITERAL translation of the original works. But it certainly isn't a mindless one.