Sherlock Holmes-He Said

As one of the most hotly anticipated movies of the holiday season, I walked into Sherlock Holmes expecting to have an experience very similar to Iron Man, simply I wanted to be blown away.  Instead of getting what some would call "Guy Ritchie’s redemption" and another great addition to Robert Downey Jr.'s filmography, we got a lackluster and pretty average mystery movie.  I will admit I know very little about Sherlock Holmes; I never read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, nor have I ever watched any movies based on his character. I have seen his really popular TV show, House M.D. though.  I believe this is part of what colors my judgment of this movie. The best way for me to think about this movie is like a really long but lackluster House episode around mid-season. 

The movie starts of with Holmes and Jude Law’s John Watson taking down Lord Blackwood, played by Mark Strong, during a sort of Satanic ritual, and Watson moving out of their shared house to somewhere with his fiancé Mary.  Watson’s relationship causes a lot of funny moments due to Holmes’ jealousy over it, and that's where the movie shines.  Law and Downey Jr. have a great chemistry; it totally makes you feel like they’ve been solving mysteries together for ages. And let’s not forget the slightly homosexual tension-it's as thick as clam chowder in some scenes.  Everything else about the movie though just does not seem to gel.  While you go through the movie, the plot feels intense, and you think the pay off will be freaking awesome, instead it’s a let down in ways I won’t get into due to spoilers.  I will say that just like other mystery type movies, this one will benefit from repeated views, once you know the ending you will notice details and it does enrich the experience and adds a little bit of redemption to the movie but not much.

I will say that to the movie’s credit the visual tone feels very dark and consistent to what we all imagine Victorian England to be.  Hans Zimmer’s music is really catchy in a way that John Williams’ music is always catchy.  Overall, the movie is a disappointment, I do believe that writers Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, and Simon Kinberg are the ones to blame for that.  At the same time while I feel House has the formula down a bit better, but the average moviegoer will have a good time during this movie.