Review: The Mystery in SHERLOCK HOLMES is Why They Felt the Mystery Itself Didn't Matter

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Review: The Mystery of SHERLOCK HOLMES is Why They Felt the Mystery Didn’t Matter

Posted on 25 December 2009 by Brent Hartinger, Editor

Three Torches (Out of Five)

It could’ve been a whole lot worse.

When I saw the previews for the new Guy Ritchie-directed movie adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, I thought, “Oh, good God, they’ve turned him into a Matrix-like action hero!”

The truth is, the scenes where Holmes uses his understanding of anatomy to pummel an opponent in slow, perfectly-choreographed motion are a very small part of the film (distracting and unnecessary though they may be).

No, this movie more or less hews closely to the Sherlock Holmes we know and love: the anti-social detective (Robert Downey Jr.) who, along with his hapless companion Dr. Watson (Jude Law), draws sweeping, eerily-accurate conclusions from the most mundane, maybe even ridiculous of details.

This time out, Holmes and Watson are up against Lord Blackwood, the leader of an evil cult that’s terrorizing London (despite the fact that he was recently executed — and Dr. Watson was the one who declared him dead!). Has he really somehow unlocked a secret power of the universe?

The movie has beefed up the humorous “bromance” relationship between Watson and Holmes, who resents his faithful companion for moving out to get married. Meanwhile, Holmes is involved in a tempestuous relationship of his own with Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), a beautiful con artist who once outsmarted him.

Still, this is a Joel Silver movie, and he’s the producer of The Matrix, Die Hard, Speeder Racer, and a zillion other action movies both good and bad.

That means it looks great — I’m not sure I’ve seen a more convincing 19th century London — but that “story” gets short-shrift.

Frankly, the reason why I like mysteries is that you tell yourself that if you pay attention very closely, you can figure it all out before the main character does — and even if you don’t, you can still enjoy that moment when it all comes together, and you say to yourself, “How did I miss that?! It’s so obvious in retrospect!”

Forget that. The mystery here is strictly boiler-plate. Meanwhile, the villain is absolutely by-the-numbers in every way, clearly just a place-holder until we get to the “real” villain in the next entry in this would-be movie franchise.

And while I thought Law was hilarious as a particularly put-upon Watson, I found Robert Downey Jr.’s performance to be way too Method Actor-y, all quirky and brooding. And not for one second did I ever buy that McAdams is half as smart as her character is suppose to be.

Sherlock Holmes is not the total disaster I feared it to be. But it’s also not nearly as fun as it could’ve been.

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