Monday, December 28, 2009

9 Sherlock Holmes Thoughts

1. I was excited when I first heard about this film, less excited when I saw the first preview and saw that the style and treatment was more of a super-hero nature than of a literary style...yep, that's what the film was like.

2. Robert Downey Jr is very talented. He plays the part, the way that it's written, excellently, and I can't imagine any actor doing nearly as well.

3. When ever you see a movie people seem to ask, "did you like it?" as if it was so simple. This film was entertaining, but wasn't the gem of this years film season. It was what it was. It'll be popular, I'm sure as some people "fall in love with the film" we will see more polarization of opinion.

4. I enjoyed the film more because of my interest in the television series House. I know that Hugh Laurie's Dr. House character is based in part on Holmes, but with limited knowledge of the complete Holmes-package, I could definitely see how Dr. Wilson plays a Dr. Watson role as well.

5. I don't know if Arthur Conan Doyle's original work focused on dark themes of occult, but the witchcraft elements in this film were a large part of what made me not be completely in love with this film's stories.

6. Speaking of dark elements, when I saw this in the theater there had to be no less than 10, maybe more, previews. Many, many, many of them were ubber-dark themes.

7. Jude Law is good, but not amazing - just does what he's supposed to do. I'd like to see a Jude Law performance that amazes...it's been awhile. Actually Mark Strong (Lord Blackwood), Eddie Marsan (Inspector Lestrade), and even Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler) seem to provide strong under-the-radar performances.

8. Props to Guy Richie for putting together something that will surely be seen as a box-office success story and surely the pieces must be in play for a sequel based off opening weekend numbers.

9. I wish I was more connected to Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes writings and read some of the stories before seeing the film so that I could evaluate his stories better up against the film adaptation.

7 comments:

Andrew K. said...

Aaah, Jude Law doubter...noooooooo. It has been a while though.

I would have preferred if it was more literary than super-hero, I feel as if he's pandering to the masses.

AK said...

I would be really interested to hear what you think about the movie once you have read some of the stories. I love Sherlock Holmes and actually just finished listening to an audio book collection of his stories. I have been resistent to seeing the movie because the previews make it look like Dr. Watson plays a totally different role than he does in the actual stories. It makes me wonder what else they messed with...

Lorna said...

I was disappointed to see such a modern handling of the conflicts and to see so many of them. RD Jr can do cerebral and that could have been very powerful. I enjoyed the movie while I was there, but it won't haunt me; what will stick is the set and the costuming and the yearning of Holmes for companionship.

Anonymous said...

@AK - sounds like you need to go see the movie and do a contrasting book vs. movie review for Strange Culture...we def. need an AK guest post :-)

Dad said...

I bought the complete series of SH in two volumes. I've found it the perfect treatment for insomnia. It is just interesting enough to keep reading when you are awake and bored, but not so thrilling that you can't go to sleep.

What's interesting to me is how this series of stories must have shaped and popularized the crime genre. Would there be 20 versions of CSI on TV today if not for ACD?

I think the most true-to-the-book version of SH is the one that airs on PBS. I guess it was done by the BBC. I'm not surprised if the movie took liberties. To sell the story to Americans you need less subtlety, more shock and awe.

Andrew K. said...

RC this is off topic, but I just read your comment on Jose's review of The Blind Side

"The Magical Negro - hadn't heard that term in awhile - I always think of Morgan Freeman roles when I hear that term."

I don't know if it's a joke, but you have had me cracking up!!!

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