Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes (2009) – at AMK Hub. Reimaginations of famous characters, superheroes and TV series are really quite in the vogue these days. We’ve had new interpretations of Batman, Spider-man, Superman, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek – and even a remake of the old 1980s TV series, The A-Team, is in the works.

Guy Ritchie’s remake of Sherlock Holmes has been on my radar since it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. was in the title role. I haven’t seen much of the director’s output, but I really like Downey Jr.’s films. His characters have a quirky but still strangely attractive blend of charisma and flippancy. That unique trademark of his repeats in this remake: so, despite traces of grey in his hair, the minute he opens his near motor-mouth and twitches his facial features, it’s Downey Jr. all right.

The recreation of London is incredible too, and it’s avoided some of the usual failings found in other reimaginations – which have occasionally resulted in characters’ world recreations that are either too cartoony, too garish, or too gothic. The London that Holmes works in feels organic and lived in, though there’s still no missing the large amount of CG embellishments in backdrops.

Downey Jr.’s Holmes is also no longer a fastidious, straight-faced investigating detective. The Holmes we see here retains his superb intellect and skills of deductive reasoning, but he’s now also a superb hand-to-hand combat exponent sporting an amazing bod. He eschews the classical version’s Deerstalker hat (the better because I always thought the character looked ridiculous in it), but there’re numerous other twisty nods to the classical character: including that Holmes still plays his violin… but now like a banjo.

Holmes is also supported by a few recognizable faces. Jude Law is Dr. Watson, and the Watson has gone through a rinse too. He’s no longer a bumbling sidekick, but a skilled doctor, ex-military man, and also another skilled 19th century martial arts pugilist LOL. His character plays against Holmes well and as his equal, and it shows in the banter between the two – they’re like a married bickering couple, like when Holmes grumbles if Watson has left the stove on again right after a fist fight. There’s also the very yummy to look at Rachel McAdams, who doesn’t bother hiding an American accent in this film. And rounding off the faces which I recognized immediately is Mark Strong, who’s showing he’s equally adept at playing both villains and good guys (he’s the antagonist here again though).

All’s not well in the recreation though. For starters, the story while complex is also a tremendous stretch. Yes Holmes is all intelligent, but his powers of deduction and repeated ability to outsmart everyone in every situation also turns him intellectually infallible and not terrifically interesting from about the film’s midpoint. Apart from the physically dangerous situations he gets himself into, you know he’s still going to solve the mystery because he’ll be able to piece everything together, including ridiculously incongruous little bits of evidence – but the audience will never be able to on their own because Ritchie reveals little in the course of the film, but Holmes is omniscient. It’s more than a little mildly condescending.

Then there’s also the wasted opportunities. In the first half of the film, there’re two terrifically fun-to-watch monologues when Holmes squares off against physically imposing opponents, and strategizes how best to bring them down. If only Chris Nolan’s two Batman films had these, like the comic books…! The two monologues suggest that Holmes is without peer in hand-to-hand combat as he’s combining his vast knowledge of the human condition with fighting techniques. But that amazing ability is completely forgotten in the second half of the film, as we watch Holmes start getting surprised and even nearly (physically) pulverized by his enemies.

Then there’s also Hans Zimmer’s music. I used to love his music, especially for Gladiator, Crimson Tide, and The Rock. But he sure likes to plagiarize his own work. The music in Holmes sounds like stuff he’s written for Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End – the catchy oft key banjo (?) strumming in Holmes sounds exactly like when Johnny Depp was having his monologues in Davy Jones’ Locker. That was another missed opportunity, but then again I’m just grumbling. If you don’t mind that the music sounds all familiar, it’s still at least a suitable accompaniment to what you’re seeing on the screen.

So, it’s still a relatively mixed bag. Downey Jr. is in top-form and hasn’t yet outstayed his nearly now similar portrayal of characters, and hopefully won’t in his upcoming repeated role of Tony Stark in Iron Man II. Ling liked the show too when we caught it at AMK Hub’s Cathay on Saturday yesterday morning, but also lamented that it was very difficult for her to catch what was going on by way of the spit-fire dialog. She turned to me during the show more than a couple of times and whispered, “Dear, what happened?!”