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By Manos Angelakis
Sherlock Holmes
After viewing “Sherlock Holmes”, the latest Hollywood extravaganza starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams, there is one thing that I can say; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle must be twirling in his grave!
Guy Ritchie, the film’s director, and Robert Downey Jr. who portrays Sherlock Holmes, took the Sherlock Holmes iconic British character that, according to the Conan Doyle original stories, was a bit of a Victorian monk that eschewed women, certainly well groomed, well educated, and a bit prissy, and turned him into an unkempt, antisocial, and with questionable hygiene lout! The ponderous, pedantic, sidekick Dr. Watson, was turned into a man of action, sporting a revolver and a sword cane that Sherlock occasionally uses to thwart his adversaries. And disappointingly, at no time during the long film did Sherlock even once intone “Elementary, my dear Watson” (actually, Conan Doyle never used this “signature” phrase in his writings).
Having said that, the film manages to portray the city of London as faithfully to the era as possible. The recreation of daily life seems historically accurate, as London was a dank, soot-covered town where the gentry lived in opulence and the rest of the populace in abject squalor. The Holmes and Watson quarters at 221b Baker Street were recreated in the studio as an accurate copy of the Sherlock Holmes Museum (http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk) now occupying the address, though Holmes’ quarters are much neater and cleaner in the actual museum. The computer-generated (CGI) backgrounds of the city’s long views from the Thames and miniatures of London Bridge under construction and the river traffic, were lifelike.
This is an action-adventure film with comics-like protagonists and characters (but missing are the POW! balloons over the character when a blow is delivered) that include murderous adversaries that purportedly practice the black arts; secret societies bent on the empire’s, and eventually world, domination; beautiful damsels in distress - who, when push comes to shove, can definitely hold their own against thugs; long fighting sequences; multiple explosions; and death defying stunts. Think of it as “The Perils of Pauline” meets “Enter the Dragon” meets “Batman”. The soundtrack is accordingly deafening and the music background loud.
This is not the Sherlock Holmes, we older and more familiar with the Conan Doyle works, know and love. I will borrow a phrase from another famous British author, William Shakespeare, “tis a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”
© January 2010 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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