Kevin's Watch

I saw this one a few days ago with my brother. And I was pleasantly surprised

Despite my general misgivings about Sherlock Holmes to begin with (Doyle was an idiot[1] and a prick[2]), they managed to capture all the enjoyable parts of the character (his manic depression, his OCD, and I think they threw in his drug addiction as well, though I can't remember specifically where it was in the movie) while putting him in a completely new story (a good thing, too... I don't think much of the originals).

While the ending (which left things open for a sequel or, perhaps, a series) was predictable, it was still enjoyable in the same fashion as the Star Trek remake we had earlier this year.

The one real flaw? That after years of Jackass and YouTube videos of people tasering themselves and their friends, the writers of this movie still don't understand the effects of electricity on the human body.

Oh, well. You can't have everything.


[1] He was widely known for his belief in certain supernatural phenomena, such as fairies. This wouldn't be so bad, except that for a guy who routinely wrote about a detective who paid attention to the smallest details... he didn't do much investigation, or look at many details, himself.

People would present him with the most ludicrous evidence of the supernatural (stuff a child would be able to look at and point out mistakes the fraudsters made), and he would swallow it hook, line and sinker. He had already made up his mind to believe, so he refused to think critically about anything which might result in him having to admit that he was wrong.

[2] He would regularly write the first portion of one of Holmes's adventures in the morning, eat lunch, and then make up some crap to solve it. Most of the time, he wouldn't even bother trying to figure out if his explanation made sense. This wouldn't bother me so much, if it weren't for the fame that he received as a result... it's the equivalent of watching Bill Gates win an award for his fair and ethical business practices.

In fairness to Doyle:

[1] He started writing the Holmes stories long before he got an interest in spiritualism.

[2] I don't see how this makes him a prick. If he wrote stories which have had a lasting appeal in such a casual manner, then congratulations to him. Tchaikovsky is supposed to have written for no more than 20 minutes a day, and straight from the top of his head...does that make him a prick?

I haven't seen the film yet, though I will soon. It looks interesting. I have no problem with people doing new stuff with old material but, what was funny about this is Downey claiming it's the most faithful version of Holmes yet. A casual glance at the film trailers pretty much dispels that idea

As far as characters go, other versions of Holmes are almost universally more virtuous than the original

As far as him being a prick... it's rather like he just didn't care about the quality of the story, but would just dash off the first thing he thought of and call it a day.

Granted, he was writing it as a serial for the newspaper, and I've nothing wrong with it in that sense... it just irks me that people grant his work such high acclaim when most of it is drivel and trash.

Though I've seen quite a few which have portrayed him as a not-so-nice person. Cushing's portrayal is always how I imagined Holmes. Rupert Everett's more recent version for TV was very good, and a little dark I thought. Lately, a lot of TV and film versions bring the drug addiction to the fore, as if it was the most defining characteristic. In the stories it's not often referred to and, in the very first tale, it was made clear Holmes never indulged...

Though there are some tales which aren't very good, and a few which are just plain bad, I think there's enough material there which is just excellent. The Hound of the Baskervilles is still one of the best mystery stories I've ever read. Maybe the best. But just the creation of probably the most influential fictional character ever is a pretty major achievement when you think about it. No other character has been portrayed anywhere near as many times in films, plays, TV (Dracula is a very far off second) - and that's only including the direct portrayals. When you factor in the many characters inspired by Holmes, like House or William of Baskerville (from Eco's The Name of the Rose), it's pretty impressive, I think.

Rigel, I'm considering putting 80% of your posts into the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Forum as most of what you're saying has nothing to do with the Film. But first, I'm going to eat lunch and call it a day. Feel free to call me a prick after I've won my fame and fortune modding this forum so well.........

I watched this film last night. Though I enjoyed it, it has a lot of problems.

The most major one is it simply doesn't have the feel of a Sherlock Holmes story. There's much too much action, not enough deduction. Despite what Downey had to say about the faithfulness to the material, his version of Holmes is one of the least faithful I've seen to the character. His Sherlock is far too whimsical, not particularly arrogant, not particularly dark...and certainly not misogynistic enough. Don't get me wrong, he still seems basically like Holmes, but I've seen better and more interesting portrayals by far.

That said, Jude Law was more memorable as Watson for me. Very few versions of the Watson character have been that faithful. This one wasn't particularly, though they did get across the character's innate cleverness (something many adaptations don't bother with).

Stories about Black Magic and secret societies in Victorian London are getting to be extremely cliched, so the plot of this one was hardly new or surprising. They would have been better off going with one of Doyle's stories, rather than this pretty unexceptional story line. The villain was something of a caricature. His whole look seemed to be premised on the notion of hammering into the audience that he was a bad guy, and I found that rather boring.

Nonethless, there is some excellent stuff in the film. It's entertaining, and it has a good pace. The dialogue is not very faithful to the setting, but it is snappy enough to keep interest.

The wrap-up scene was always the most important part of a Holmes story to me, and it's handled well in the film. Overal I'd rate the film as good, but not anywhere near great. It took at least half an hour for me to get into the movie though, once I did, I enjoyed it.

Montresor wrote:I watched this film last night. Though I enjoyed it, it has a lot of problems.

The most major one is it simply doesn't have the feel of a Sherlock Holmes story. There's much too much action, not enough deduction. Despite what Downey had to say about the faithfulness to the material, his version of Holmes is one of the least faithful I've seen to the character. His Sherlock is far too whimsical, not particularly arrogant, not particularly dark...and certainly not misogynistic enough. Don't get me wrong, he still seems basically like Holmes, but I've seen better and more interesting portrayals by far.

That said, Jude Law was more memorable as Watson for me. Very few versions of the Watson character have been that faithful. This one wasn't particularly, though they did get across the character's innate cleverness (something many adaptations don't bother with).

Stories about Black Magic and secret societies in Victorian London are getting to be extremely cliched, so the plot of this one was hardly new or surprising. They would have been better off going with one of Doyle's stories, rather than this pretty unexceptional story line. The villain was something of a caricature. His whole look seemed to be premised on the notion of hammering into the audience that he was a bad guy, and I found that rather boring.

Nonethless, there is some excellent stuff in the film. It's entertaining, and it has a good pace. The dialogue is not very faithful to the setting, but it is snappy enough to keep interest.

The wrap-up scene was always the most important part of a Holmes story to me, and it's handled well in the film. Overal I'd rate the film as good, but not anywhere near great. It took at least half an hour for me to get into the movie though, once I did, I enjoyed it.

wow, i agreed with basically everything you said here.

I will add that as cute is Rachel McAdams is, I didn't beleive her in this role for one minute. I actually liked the girl who played Watson's fiance better... more depth to her acting, made her more interesting.

I saw this the other day, I liked it, but I couldn't help thinking about how much the bantering between Holmes and Watson reminded me of watching House MD

drew wrote:I saw this the other day, I liked it, but I couldn't help thinking about how much the bantering between Holmes and Watson reminded me of watching House MD

Yeah true. Holmes inspired by a show inspired by Holmes...A referential paradox.

Usivius wrote:

wow, i agreed with basically everything you said here.

I will add that as cute is Rachel McAdams is, I didn't beleive her in this role for one minute. I actually liked the girl who played Watson's fiance better... more depth to her acting, made her more interesting.

I agree. The fiancee stood out more, even though McAdams is eye-catching enough.

drew wrote:I saw this the other day, I liked it, but I couldn't help thinking about how much the bantering between Holmes and Watson reminded me of watching House MD

The bantering/story line between Holmes and Watson was exactly the banter between Douglas Fairbanks and Cary Grant in Gunga Din. Fairbanks announces that he is marrying the woman of his dreams (joan fontain) and leaving the foreign legion. Grant spends the entire movie trying to manipulate Fairbanks out of marriage.

I enjoyed the movie, but when did Holmes become a macho brawling hunk instead of the nerdy bookworm? Gimme' a bookworm any day.

lorin wrote:[
The bantering/story line between Holmes and Watson was exactly the banter between Douglas Fairbanks and Cary Grant in Gunga Din. Fairbanks announces that he is marrying the woman of his dreams (joan fontain) and leaving the foreign legion. Grant spends the entire movie trying to manipulate Fairbanks out of marriage.

'The tea business?!'

Great movie.