Sherlock Holmes, the latest version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective novels, is produced by Joel Silver...the man who perhaps started the 80's buddy movie phenomenon in 48 hours and Lethal Weapon. Here he combines the established characters and structure of the novels, with the 'buddy movie' sensibility to create a fresh take on a familiar subject.
To do this he's hired Robert Downey Jnr, hot off the success of Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, to play Holmes while his sidekick Watson is played by Jude Law, who seems to have been missing from the mainstream of late. The pair are excellent. Downey gets the Riggs role (the superior partner who's also a tad unpredictable) while Law gets to be the loyal, dependable brother (saves the hero more than once, and puts up with him, despite their differences). It's the banter...the love/hate relationship that provides the meat of this light, adventure romp...and very enjoyable it is too. Downey's British accent, seems a little odd, but it's forgiven considering the eccentricities of his character.
Lock stock's Guy Richie is the man in the directors chair and does a solid job. Sherlock is a 12 rating, plus it's not written by Richie, so it does lack some of the pace and the edginess of his more personal work. But despite the calmer, more linear narrative, Richie paints a rich, textured world for Holmes to inhabit...both in the production design and in the supporting characters littering the plot. Richie still has his trademark moments, where he's allowed to shine (Holme's inner monologue when taking out an opponent in a fight / an explosive trap laid by the baddies on the docklands), but it's less frequenty then, say, Snatch.
Hans Zimmer, who everybody trys to imitate these days, outguns the competition by delivering a score than's both modern and unique...Rachel McAdams is a feisty muse for Holmes (but doesn't appear enough to make the proper impact) and the supernatural red herrings in the plot give way to a more predictable ruse to seize control of the British Empire. For an action comedy, it's a little light on action, but when the set-pieces do arrive they're constantly unpredictable and littered with humor.
This is fun and enjoyable fluff...but it never feels like everybody is 100% committed to delivering the goods. Downey could afford to go madder...as could Richie. And the script needs much more tightening up to compete with the big boys. Hopefully, if Richie & co are back for a sequel (it's surely made enough to justify one) then everybody will be on their A game.
1 comment:
It was pretty good. Downey Jr and Law made a great duo and Ritchie gave a diferent enough spin to familiar material to make it worthwhile. It just never seemed to kick in to fifth gear at all spending most of its time in third with the odd jump to fourth. The plot was okay but fairly predictible for this kind of thing. The movie works best as a buddy film and as a set-up for a future adventures pitting Holmes against the shadowy Moriarty. Good but not great.
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