BEFORE: Amazingly, this question came up tonight at bi-weekly Team Trivia - "What pair of enemies battled over Reichenbach Falls in "The Final Problem". Nailed it! (Our team still came in 9th place, though we're usually in the Top 5) And I was already planning to watch this film tonight, since Birthday SHOUT-out #29 is going out to Robert Downey Jr., born April 4, 1965, and last seen in "The Soloist". Linking from last night's film, Marlon Brando was in "The Godfather" with James Caan, who was in "Flesh and Bone" with Gwyneth Paltrow, who was in "Iron Man" with Robert Downey Jr.
I've read all of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, and I've seen "Young Sherlock Holmes", "The Seven Percent Solution", and even "They Might Be Giants" - but I haven't watched the faithful (?) filmed versions of Holmes' adventures, not the Basil Rathbone films, and not the more recent BBC or PBS miniseries. Should probably get on that one of these days.
THE PLOT: Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.
AFTER: Of course, it's Holmes' mind that should be his greatest asset, his powers of observation, deduction and reason should drive the plot. So I'm not sure about Guy Ritchie adding bare-knuckle brawling to his skill set. I always thought Holmes preferring refined things like fencing, and playing violin, to fisticuffs. Still, we see him work through all the punching and kicking options in his head at the speed of thought before acting, so it must be the mental aspect of boxing that appeals to him, right? Did a focus group of teens think that Sherlock Holmes was too much of a pussy? Are we trying to attract the "Mortal Kombat" crowd? That's pandering.
I had high expectations for this film, but I found it rather hard to follow - which, in addition to the brawling, is another similarity to Ritchie's films "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". The think accents, both real and fake (Downey's) didn't help either.
In addition, the film seems to open in the middle of a case - elements of the case later become very important, but where's the fun in just watching Holmes and Watson wrap up a case? The fun is in the solving, no? We're also sort of re-booting the character in the middle of his career - why not re-start the franchise a bit closer to the beginning, like "Batman Begins" did?
NITPICK POINT: The map overlay bit was done first, and better, in "Angels & Demons".
NITPICK POINT #2: So, black magic works? Or it doesn't? Make up your mind. Anyway, Sherlock Holmes should be all about disproving such things, and in a quicker fashion.
While we're discussing famous movie quotes, something is intentionally missing here - Holmes saying "Elementary, my dear Watson!" But at least Holmes says "The game is afoot!", along with a conglomeration of lesser-known quotes from famous Conan Doyle stories.
Also starring Jude Law (last seen in "Repo Men"), Rachel McAdams (last seen in "Wedding Crashers"), Mark Strong (last seen in "Stardust") and Robert Maillet, aka WWE wrestler Kurrgan (last seen in "300").
RATING: 6 out of 10 ravens
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