Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes was an incredible ride, the whole way through.
As a die hard Sherlock Holmes fan, and not a fan of Diehard, I approached this movie with trepidation. Guy Ritchie is a skillful director, a master, in my opinion, but can be tasteless, violent and crude at times, too. I worried, as did the rest of Holmes’ devoted fans, what he might do once he got his hands on the franchise of the world’s greatest sleuth. In the end, I needn’t have worried, for Holmes was in very good hands.
It needs to be said, first of all, that this isn’t your grandmother’s Sherlock Holmes. In a way it isn’t, but in another way, it is. Despite being the world’s greatest detective, a master problem-solver, Holmes, as a figure in literature, is a drug-addict, a recluse, a boxer, and an anti-social kind of psychopath driven by an insatiable curiosity. In Doyle’s writings this is evident: if Holmes isn’t on a case, he’s a mess—he needs the cases to stave off insanity. In most, nearly all, adaptations of Holmes for the big- and small-screen this part of his character, the most unseemly aspect, is downplayed if at all present.
Ritchie, the master of the seedy British underworld, makes this aspect of Holmes’ character nearly central to who he is. Not a perfect adaptation, but not unlike all the previous ones we’ve seen, Ritchie just chooses (as we knew he would) to swing the other way. That’s his thing. That said, it’s not an unfaithful representation and in the plot that Ritchie has written (his own original Holmes adventure) this version of Sherlock fits well.
But it is, after all, a Guy Ritchie take on Holmes and, no, your grandmother won’t enjoy it. It’s action-based and exciting and chalk-full of Ritchie’s brilliantly-crafted plot twists, irony, and humour. I’ll say it again: Ritchie is a brilliant director. With Holmes, he doesn’t disappoint, and his take on the franchise is, to put it best, fun. He hasn’t done for Holmes what Christopher Nolan has done for Batman, but it is nice to see another take on the detective, and it’s a franchise that I’m excited to see more of.
Up until the point where Lord Blackguard resurrects, I thought I was seeing the coolest movie that ever existed.
I wasn’t happy with any of the casting, but I could see how it all worked and the major conceits that Ritchie interpreted differently were extremely well done and I don’t think that I’ve ever seen a better fight seen than the a cappella “Rocky Road to Dublin” one.
BUT(<– please note cap lock not stuck on, I did this on purpose) after that he became just another caped Raider of Gotham's Lost Ark. I figured if he could do that, I could stop forgiving him for the casting of Rachel McAdam as Irene Adler.
Quite disappointed over the lost potential.
[...] Some have depicted Holmes as rather tame and mild-mannered. Others, like Guy Ritchie’s interpretation, have picked up on Holmes’ lesser savoury habits and tendencies. But the BBC’s Sherlock [...]