Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Don H
its merits.
Certainly, it should please the popcorn-n-coke crowd, and fill
multiplexes over the holiday season.
To officiados, to whom Doyle's stories are akin to Holy Writ, the film
might verge on blasphemy, mainly because of having a Watson taller than
Holmes, who, in the literature, was six foot tall.
The movie goes for a good two hours, and the backdrop of Victorian London
looks authentic, while Irene Adler, who went off happily married in the
book, turns up, to provide Holmes' romantic interest. Along with Mary, for
Watson.
A Lord Blackwood is there, a movie invention, played with usual
villainous flair by Mark Strong, against the combined efforts of Holmes
(Robert Downey, Jr) and Watson (Jude Law).
Prof. Moriarty occurs, though in the shadows - keeping options open for
casting in a sequel.
Myself, I'd have cast Mark Strong as Holmes, but what do I know?
Overall, not a bad effort, and the glass may be considered half full.
Such deduction as occurs is mainly in retrospective explanation.
MS
It put me to sleep several times. Too much special effects and not
enough plot. They had to explain at the end the plot items that were
not evident earlier in the film.
Don H
# It is always dangerous trying to improve on a literary classic, and I look
forward (with some trepidation) to the forthcoming Alice (in Wonderland, or
is it Through the Looking Glass?), and Gulliver's Travels (to Lilliput, at
least).
Tim Burton has been let loose on the former, while Jack Black stars in the
latter.
Now, Jack Black has comedic merit (as in "Mars Attacks!") but is not
noted for altitude; and Gulliver, like Holmes, was six foot tall. This
enabled comparison with Lilliputians who were six inches in height, and an
adult Brobdingnagian who (on my estimation) had 72 ft elevation. A factor
of 12:1 in both cases.
While a documentary should stick to facts, a classic-ment-to-be might
well do likewise.
Otherwise, we may settle for a laugh - but for all the wrong reasons.
Still, any movie with the Depp-Burton combo is always worth viewing,
while any diminutive manikin could make Jack Black seem a giant.