A highly intelligent thriller
Sherlock Holmes is reincarnated for the 22nd time (or so Ebert says) in the new film by Guy Ritchie (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch). This is the first Sherlock Holmes movie I’ve seen. I haven’t read any of the books either, I sort of skimmed Hound of the Baskervilles once upon a time. I have seen plenty of pictures though and had what I thought was a pretty good idea of who Holmes was all about. Let’s just say that the character has been updated with a dose of kick-ass coolness. For instance, Holmes not only peers at things with a magnifying glass in this movie, he also knows how to brawl and can beat up men twice his size by observing the pressure points in their bodies and hitting all the places. Dr. Watson, his sidekick and roommate, also packs a punch. They are played by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law respectively. The bad guy is the dark lord of a Satanic Cult played by Mark Strong. Rachel McAdams plays Holmes ex-girlfriend/master criminal.
The plot is completely new. It kind of had to be to incorporate Guy Ritchie’s action packed trademark style. The good thing though is that Sherlock is every bit a brilliant genius as he traditionally was. The only difference now is that he is an action hero. The only actor I can think of that can pull off this kind of dynamic is the great Robert Downey Jr. Making an action movie these days is not very hard what with the help of special effects, but you can’t fake smart. To pull off a brilliant character a movie needs a smart script and an actor who knows what it’s like to be brilliant. For example Sherlock is eccentric to the point that he is excited by very hard cases and insufferably bored by everything else. When he doesn’t have something to work on he locks himself up his apartment and lives in squalor constructing devices and experimenting on his dog. The character by its nature is anti-social, unhygienic, and obsessive. Only a guy like Downey Jr. can stay true to that type of character and still be very likable and totally badass. This part was tailor made for Downey Jr. I think he has an outside chance of an Oscar nomination.
I really enjoyed seeing Jude Law in a good movie for a change. It’s been years. What’s cool about his role is that he doesn’t play the dumb sidekick. Dr. Watson is very smart too. The dialogue between him and Sherlock are some of the most intelligent back and forth I’ve seen in a mystery movie. Sherlock never has to explain to him that something is elementary. Dr. Watson is very capable in an investigation and not to mention in fights. By the way, I don’t know if anyone else caught it and maybe I was just seeing things but I kind of also gauged a little bit of homoerotic tension between the two. I don’t necessarily think that Dr. Watson was gay. His character is about to leave their apartment and get married. But I did get the sense that Sherlock was rather fond of Dr. Watson. Think about it. He’s very anti-social and can’t stand anybody but Dr. Watson, they were living together, and they bicker like an old married couple. Nothing is ever explicitly said, but hey it was the Victorian Era. It’s not like anybody could have admitted that sort of thing.
Of course the one big flaw in my premise is the Rachel McAdams character, apparently the one and only woman Sherlock was ever involved with. (Not that Sherlock shows her much attention in this movie only getting close enough to kiss her on the cheek.) But you know, I didn’t really believe the whole thing anyway. Rachel is certainly gorgeous but she’s not nearly weird enough to be the girlfriend of a guy like Sherlock Holmes. Frankly she wasn’t weird enough to be a mastermind criminal. Rachel just acts and speaks to damn normal. It doesn’t work. Why? Because super smart people can’t fake normal. She should have been channeling Juno and this script should have given her better words to work with.
The plot centers on the mysterious resurrection of a dead man. This is the Dark Lord of a Satanic Cult played by Mark Strong. Upon miraculously busting out of his grave, he commits several impossible murders, and threatens to poison Parliament with a magical gas. The game is afoot. Not only does Sherlock have to catch the guy, he also has to prove that there is no such thing as magic and sorcery. Data, data, data there is only observational fact. I must confess before the speech at the end where Sherlock explains everything, I had no idea how the Dark Lord was doing any of this stuff. That is where the movie was perhaps too smart for me. The best mystery movies are both surprising and obvious at the same time. When things are explained the best reaction should be, “Oh my God, how come I didn’t see that!” Here the explanation was simply surprising. I didn’t see any of it coming. I couldn’t have seen any of it coming. It had to do with Chemistry, and Biology, and Science stuff. I guess Sherlock Holmes is just a heck of a lot smarter than me. That’s why this movie didn’t get five stars.
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