Screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg
Screen Story by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson
Based on the Characters Created By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Directed by Guy Ritchie
“You’ve never complained about my methods before.”
“I’ve NEVER complained! When have I ever complained about you practicing the violin at three in the morning, or your mess? Your general lack of hygiene, or the fact that you steal my clothes?”
I think I was a little more worried (frightened, even?) about this film than the re-boot of Star Trek. Especially in the last 25 years, with the Jeremy Brett/Granada UK TV series remaining the definitive Holmes of this generation, I was quite terrified we would witness a horrific Lock-Stock-and-Two-Smoking-Barrels version of a classic character…destroyed forever by a director with an unsuitable, over-the-top sensibility.
I shouldn’t have worried. Frankly, my only real complaint with the movie is the actual plot. It veered a little too fantastical and mystical for my liking…even though the logic of the situation was satisfactorily revealed at the conclusion. It just felt as if, in their desire for epic, the writers and the direcdtor were swinging for the fences a little too hard. I’m also not entirely convinced by the expansion of Irene Adler’s character…although Rachel McAdams does manage to evoke a beautifully restrained set of reactions from Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes.
That aside, SHERLOCK HOLMES is a sumptuous, gorgeous, astonishing production - the dirty, gritty nature of everyday Victorian life, successfully mixed with the flashes of upper-crust society and their selfish, detached concerns. The 1860s, re-created with considerable skill and a great deal of joy. A sharp-edged universe of greys and blues, muddy streets and gilded palaces.
Into this mix we are presented with — or should that say, hurled into the life of — Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes…and you’d never know he wasn’t British. He’s as twitchy, anti-social, callous, jealous, neurotic and incisively brilliant as Holmes ever was, and it’s clear that a great deal of the Brett-incarnation has influenced his performance. If anything, the additional action and fighting are in keeping with the martial skills Holmes always possessed…and, in this case, serve as a realistic outlet for his repressed emotion and ceaseless energy. Downey Jr. effortlessly steals the movie with each & every scene, and it could be his best-ever performance as an actor.
Jude Law also acquits himself well as the solid, dependable, restrained man-of-action Watson. Law lives up to the ideal of the character with great deftness: the incisive medical man, the skilled ex-solider, and the long-suffering but ever loyal best friend.
I have no problem reconciling this version of Holmes to the Granada TV series. If anything, they compliment each other so thoroughly. Guy Ritchie’s Holmes is set in the 1860s…with a less disciplined, more feral Holmes, teamed with a Dr. Watson who’s main goal is trying to keep his best friend from killing himself accidentally. The Granada TV/Jeremy Brett Holmes is the late 1880s/90s version — 25 years later, with older, more disciplined characters, who have mellowed with experience, and who command a more established role in the life of London society. They work hand-in-hand, they are equally entertaining, and equally evocative of their time period.
So…a bit bonkers in the scale of the plot, but the terrific acting and the superb direction keeps everything in check. Even the twisted, Victorian music hall score is a revelation! It’s a roller-coaster of exciting and absorbing historical fiction…and the first genuine artistic surprise of this decade. I believe the populist streak in Arthur Conan Doyle would have been satisfied…and I will definitely be watching the inevitable sequel. :D
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