This Sherlock actually did have an opponent who could have come straight out of Bond - a giant French guy, who reminded me of Jaws, the Bond bad guy with the teeth - as well a proximate master villain (Blackwell) whose extinction in the end by Holmes only cleared the way for the true master (that would be Professor Moriarty), just as Bond's vanquishing of Dr. No only led to Blofeld. Throw into this Lord Blackwell's evil magic - shades of you know who in Harry Potter - and you have an altogether satisfying, excellent adventure.
But Holmes' logic strips away the magic, and shows it be clever use of science, circa the late Victorian age, and this gets to the heart of this movie and its ambiance: a great steampunk movie, one of the best of its kind. Shot with a keen eye for the dawning of electrical power, for the industrial revolution flexing its keening, massive weight, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes takes us back to a world which movies made much closer to Sherlock's original time couldn't show us. In a way, Sherlock Holmes is this steampunk world is like the Avatar Garden of Eden world in space - two convincing, immersive, other-worldly creations.
The movie also provided palpable updates of women menaced by buzz saws that hearken back to silent movies, and the story was pretty good, as well. Sherlock is desired by sexy Irene Adler, who gets to kiss him only after she's drugged him. This continues the essentially asexual Holmes of Basil Rathbone, and obviously is decidedly unBondian. Dr. Watson, powerfully played by Jude Law, is also unlike the bumbling sidekick Watson of the 1940s, and can throw a mean punch of his own (including once at Holmes). This Dr. Watson also reminded me for some reason of Bones McCoy in Star Trek - "I'm a doctor, Jim!" - which is all to the good.
It's no easy feat to bring back of cast of characters from so long ago with so many incarnations. With little more than a voice for Professor Moriarity in this movie, it's clear that the adventures of this new Sherlock Holmes have just begun.
6-min podcast review of Sherlock Holmes
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2 comments:
Wish I could agree with you...as a longtime SH fan, I was not opposed to a re-imagining of the characters...but I knew something was wrong just a short time into the film when Holmes, Watson and Mary had dinner together, Holmes came unshaved, insulted Mary, and she threw a drink in his face! Re-imagine all you want, but please, be faithful to the social mores of the times.
I understand what you're saying, of course. But that's why I thought of the movie as steampunk - a mix of Victorian and modern-high-tech attitudes and styles. Whether the mix appeals, however, is different strokes for different folks. I really liked it.
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