Holmes in the ring, with *gasp* his shirt off looking pretty ripped
The big struggle for top spot this year would have to be between Avatar and Sherlock Holmes, and what Guy Ritchie has done here probably won’t outrun Cameron for top billing but it sure will please fans of the action thriller genre and every Robert Downey Jr fan.
Now I must say that I am no purist, I don’t really care for absolute translations from novel to film, in fact that quite annoys me. I would mostly rather read a novel but having said that I love watching films just as much but really should one translate the other perfectly? I might even go watch Twilight New Moon, but have no inkling whatsoever to suffer another single page of a novel after torturing myself with the first.
My point is that I have never read a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel so I can’t really comment on whether this new Holmes with martial art prowess equal to his well known sharp mind but I can say I totally liked it and I think Doyle would be pleased with the ‘detectiveness’ of this version.
A totally unrelated photo of Downey with his shirt off
The portrayal by Ritchie is sharp witted and reflects his style and deploys the flashback scenes to show how Holmes powers of deduction are applied mathematically before rewinding to show in real-time just how quickly his mind operates. It is effective and not too over used. Downey pulls it off with a gym fit body that looks quite honestly capable of such feats without to many problems.
Ritchie has treated the film stylistically with a sort of sepia feel that gives it that olde worlde kind of feel and sets the genre nicely in place and our detective partners light up the screen with rapid fire one liners that can tend to be bit hit and miss but don’t wear too thin all the while Downey to light up the screen and seems to feel right at home in this role.
I really like the super ‘mentalist’ powers of perception Holmes employs throughout; from his first meeting with Watson, through to his deduction of why flies change direction after drinking eyeball surgery medication, and I think this was played on more than usual probably due to the hugely popular TV shows like The Mentalist and Lie to Me.
Not exactly a box office smash that will take everyone by storm but a good solid crime-action-thriller with most of the bits in the right places.