I just read 4 different statuses on facebook saying how great Sherlock Holmes was. However, I can't say I particularly enjoyed the new movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. The effects were cool. the actors were fine, I mean Jude Law made a brilliant Watson and Downey Jr. was decent as Holmes.
I suppose I wasn't as big a fan of Downey Jr. because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle always described the great detective as tall and wirey. Robert Downey Jr. isn't particularly tall and wirey; he's built like a brick.
My main issue was with the story. What happened to not knowing who committed the crime until Holmes solves it? I figured out the general gist of the crime in the first scene. America, what happened to mental stimulation!? Everyone just wants to be entertained. When I go see a
mystery movie I want there to be
suspense,
to solve the crime throughout the movie,
and not figure it out in the first scene! The movie portrays Sherlock Holmes as a superhero. Holmes is NOT a superhero, he's a detective. Holmes and Watson do get into some interesting situations and do fight their way out in the books, but it was never constant action.
Then there's the love interest. Yes, Holmes had a thing for her, but Irene Adler was only in one story and she outwitted him and ran off. And can someone please explain what was up with the ginger midget?
Also, get Hans Zimmer out of there. the soundtrack sounded like pirates. give me something original for once, please. something that hasn't been done before.
I could rant for a very long time, I was rather disappointed. Call me a purist, I am, I admit it.
What did you think of the movie?
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Comments (53)
I just saw Sherlock today, and I loved it. However, you definitely make a lot of valid points, especially about the soundtrack. Honestly, most of the things I know about Sherlock Holmes are because of House (which means I know nearly no specifics) so I did not have many expectations, plus I am a huge Robert Downey Jr. fan. I thought the plot progressed a bit slowly, and as a general mystery fan, I also would have loved not to know who committed the crimes. At least we didn't really know how he did everything until the end.
I liked it, but that may be because I haven't read the books. I do agree that if they didn't follow the books too well, they should change something in the sequal (which is obviously going to occur!).
I did think it was a bit less of a mystery than it should have been, but good nonetheless. I didn't figure it out, though I wasn't really trying to. I got the hanging thing before it was explained and after that I guess there wasn't much thought to it. :\
It was a good movie, but I had to really pay attention. I liked Home's witty and charming personality lol, It made me find him attractive. I havent read the books.I like that he could kick ass. yea, I was also alittle annoyed with the whole "ginger midget" thing.
i've never read the books, but i loved the movie. maybe i'm a little bit biased because i'm in love with robert downey jr and intend to bed him one day.
uh oh. i'm a sherlock holmes purist... don't think i'll enjoy the movie that much then D:
well i i liked it.may be they want to make little changes on holmes.hehe.read my blog about it.
I have read a lot of Sherlocke Holmes books and when I saw the preview I was almost certain I would hate the movie. The movie is NOT based on the BOOKS. It's based on a comic book someone wrote. I haven't read the comic, but it varies from the books. I thought the movie was great! Every other movie tries to portray Holmes as some dashing charming man. He was a nutcase. He was eccentric and kinda insane, like all really smart men he was extremely flawed. This was the Holmes in the movie. An eccentric neurotic nutcase; I loved it! And it doesn't matter if you can figure out WHO the bad guys are. What matters is HOW they pulled off what they did. Thats what makes a mystery. You can know WHO all you want, but unless you know the HOW, the mystery is still unsolved. Unless you are trying to tell me that you knew EXACTLY how they managed to pull off all their stunts. If so, than props to you.
I'd say it was decently faithful, actually. I mean, come on, Doyle's description of Holmes as tall and wirey, while definitely fitting for the character, sounds kind of retarded when you realize that Holmes is considered to be a great prize fighter (as he is portrayed in the movie) and just overall to be a physically strong person. Heck, sometimes Holmes WAS a superhero for a book of relatively realistic fiction. He got into big fights and did some pretty outlandish things. The movie was a bit more saturated with action than an average story, maybe, but at least it made sense.
And the whole plot kind of resembled the earlier Holmes stories, like a Study in Scarlett and The Sign of Four. We essentially find out who murdered whom and how, but only from Holmes. You really couldn't piece certain things together, since Holmes just basically got to know things while kind of stringing Watson around.
Tl;dr, the movie was faithful and awesome, shut up :p. I mean it wasn't a perfect adaption, but it was definitely faithful, or at least moreso than other ones, and all the adaptions were definitely pragmatic and, above all, bad ass.
It wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Still a fine movie, I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't captivated either.
A lot of these commenters are obviously not Sherlock Holmes fans. I've read every story. Now, if only I'd have seen the movie, I might be able to give a more worthwhile comment.
I wasn't too excited about it after watching it. Not amazing.
p.s. thanks mancouch for editing :) my apologies for not capitalizing, that probably annoyed the heck out of you
i think the movie was well put together and to quote Fry from Futurama "clever things make people feel stupid unexpected things make people scared"
i certainly agree about the soundtrack.
I liked it! Not blown away, but hey, it wasnt bad.
On a side note, everything these days on mancouch / xanga in general is "blah blah blah I hate this, this, and this." Jeez lol.
I thought the movie was awesome. I've never read the stories. I can understand the fans not liking the movie. But coming from someone who knew nothing about Sherlock Holmes, I thought it was a cool movie.
I just hated that it led the audience to think that Holmes believed that the guy was working magic. Or at least, expected them to think the guy was a real magician or whatever he was. If Holmes had been working through it throughout the movie, instead of just dumping all the info at once at the end, it would've at least kept my attention.
I mean, it's Holmes. Logical, intelligent guy. Believable characterization goes out the window when he plays along with the magic tricks.
It may not be accurate (what movie depiction ever is?) but it was entertaining as a movie, so I liked that.
@Danigi@xanga - Good points, esp. in relating it to A Study in Scarlet... I mean, I haven't seen it but more professional reviews (and the poster) both allude to the lack of mystery and all... All the same, Adler, giant explosions, and the excuse of prize fighting for RDj to take off his shirt... agh! That's not the sort of movie I wanted, I do not think I will bother with it till DVD so that I can rent it and harass any viewing buddies with the inaccuracies ;) But in all honesty deep down I'd probably want something along the lines of a crappy BBC adaptation so.. lol
Sherlock Holmes is just a fictional character. Get over your cinematic disappointment whatever. Plus he's a British, and Robert Downey Jr isn't.
it was well thought out and very entertaining and I personally loved it!
It was not an accurate portrait of my hero but I LOVED the movie. I understand your frustration with the suspense part and the fictional lover. But I loved the movie as a whole because it was quite entertaining and does retain some of my hero's traits on-screen (ie: his analytical skills). I also hope that it sparked some people's interests in the original character.
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I don't care. It's Robert Downey Jr with the abs.