This review is either horribly late or perfectly on time. Horribly late in that Sherlock Holmes came out exactly one month ago, but on time given that I only saw it two days ago. Either way, here’s what I think about this over-the-top spy movie.
First, let me say that I am livid that the scene that I was most looking to from the trailer (yeah, that one) isn’t actually in the film. Rachel McAdams is stunning nonetheless, and the wit she brings to the film makes her that much sexier. Something about a woman in control. On to the main characters, however, I will say that I came into this movie partial to Robert Downer Jr. and while I think he delivered a good performance, I’m not sure it was very memorable. His character was witty and the overall story was clever, but the accents and tomfoolery got in the way of what could’ve been otherwise incredibly clever scenes.
The likely highlight of the movie was getting the chance to go inside Holmes’s mind before he did something extraordinary. In a fight scene at the beginning of the movie, the viewer is transported into his mind to see just how he plan to attack, and the visuals follow along in slow motion, before reverting back in time and showing it all again in real-time. The effect is quite spectacular, and is an interesting storytelling technique.
The movie kept me entertained, but I felt that it was too disjointed to make sense at the end. Holmes explained how Blackwood got away with all his trickery throughout the movie, and while there wasn’t really any other way to do this, if the filmmakers had made it so that the audience could infer it somehow, we may have come away from it feeling more impressed with ourselves than having every detail explained to us.
Holmes was funny. There was a lot of clever wit spread throughout every scene of the movie and that is where the movie really shines. Using the an early-century, British setting as the vessel for this wit works very well, and overall the movie succeeds. It wasn’t my biggest thrill, nor was it the worst thing I’ve seen. I’ll see it again, but in a few years so that I can forget how mediocre it is. Not that I tend to rate movies on Eggplante, but if I had to, Sherlock Holmes would be the middle of the road. Witty, nothing fantastic, and certainly nothing epic. But a decent movie, nonetheless.
Look for some drool candy below.
