Sherlock Holmes (Film)

01/06/2010 at 2:21 AM (Movies) (Movies, Sherlock Holmes)

When I saw the Sherlock Holmes trailer, I was disappointed because it seemed as if Guy Ritchie had uprooted Sherlock from his detective genre and firmly implanted him in an action movie. This had a very disagreeable taste to me as a fan of Sir Arthur’s fictious genius but this was the only tasteful movie showing at Chadstone on Boxing Day at 11 pm.

While initially trying to get over the shock of the movie starting like something akin to The Bride of Frankenstein with touches of the paranormal, the sight of Sherlock throwing punches in the ring made it clear this Sherlock was not close to how Doyle made him appear. While I’m all for artistic license, did Ritchie have to infuse it with American sitcom humour ?

The music too was disconcerting and seemed far too lively or too dramatic for the sombre English setting in my opinion so I was surprised by Hans Zimmer. Not to mention the mix of Sherlock Holmes and cheeky bedroom shenanigans! The storyline was also very reminiscent of books by Dan Brown with its addition of addition of superstition and action to a mystery genre.

So thinking I was in for a dose of salt, I was pleasantly surprised when in the middle the plot picked up and an actual mystery to solve emerged. This coupled with relationship tangles until the pitiful conclusion was thrilling enough to make it more satisfying than was initially expected.

While it was an interesting take on an overly stereotyped figure, as someone who loves plot over visuals…it is possibly why I am incapable of providing a fully, glowing review.