Sherlock Holmes: Elementary, my dear Watson...

[fajrdrako]

I went to see Sherlock Holmes this evening with maaseru, explodedteabag and Yolande.

Indiana Jones as steampunk.

No, it wasn't Sherlock Holmes by genre and it wasn't Sherlock Holmes by character, but that's all to the better, because I don't - and never did - like Sherlock Holmes as Doyle wrote him. I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories before deciding I hated him, though. Then never looked back.

The story was great, though the plot didn't put much effort into making sense. It didn't matter. It had a brilliant score, lots of lively action, and eye candy both architectural and human.

Besides that:

1. I don't usually like Jude Law. There's something odd about him, or cold, or something - even when I've seen him in roles I liked and movies I liked, I had reservations emotionally. I could appreciate him, but not like him.
   
   I loved him as Dr. Watson. He was delightful: playing the straight man to the wilder Holmes, hitting exactly the right note with both action and comedy, convincing as the medical gentleman with a taste for the kind of excitement life with Holmes gave him.
   
   
2. But Watson was not my favourite character here: he came second. My favourite character here was - surprise - Kelly Reilly as Mary Matheson, Watson's fiancée. Cute and smart and - well, I confess, I totally fell in love with her. Delightful. She also had the slashiest line of the movie, when she said to Holmes, about Watson, "You love him as much as I do."
   
   
3. Holmes may have loved Watson as much as Mary did, and I'd like to believe it, but the movie wasn't really as slashy as I'd hoped it would be.
   
   
4. Robert Downey Jr. was quite delightful, but I liked him much better as Tony Stark - that was a deeper and better performance. Much as I like this Holmes more than the Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes, he was lightweight: I had no sense of the inner man. He was all observation and strategy, not thought.
   
   
5. Mark Strong played a good stock villain. And "Lord Blackwood" is a great name for a stock villain.
   
   
6. The real heroes of the movie were Han Zimmer, who did the amazing and delightful score, and Philippe Rousselot, who did the cinematography, and the assorted people who did the art design and costumes. Beautiful, wonderful work.
   
   
7. In comparison to the stunning visuals, the script was weak. Fun, but insubstantial.
   
   
8. Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler was a bit of a disappointment, because, like Holmes, she was so insubstantial: part femme fatale, part gamine, part cross-dressing adventuress, part Perils of Pauline. But not much "there" there. Not much sense of caring in her scenes with Holmes.
   
   
9. Another character I liked was Robert Maillet as Dredger. When he came on screen I whispered to explodedteabag, "It's Dredger Clegane," referring to the character of Sandor Clegane in A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin - a scarred giant. Amusingly, all his dialogue was inexplicably in French. It seems Maillet is a Canadian Acadian, and quite possibly they made use of that for the role.
   
   
10. So - bring on the sequel. But I'd rather be seeing Iron Man.