Patwoman Reviews "Sherlock Holmes"

Went to see this after Christmas dinner. Not a bad flick, really. You know I'm a longtime RDJ fan.

I have to say though, that even if you didn't know it before viewing the movie, there is no question this is a Guy Ritchie film. Some directors are like that. There are just some shots, some ways of looking at and progressing through a scene that are almost like a signature. (Tarantino has done it to the point of predictability. It's still enjoyable with Ritchie, however.) He does love that upside-down overhead-to-rightside up shot a little too much, though. I think twice in one movie is probably more than enough.

Robert Downey, Jr. is a pleasure to watch. He really plays Holmes as a self-centered ass (which I always thought he was), but an ass that is also a little insecure about personal relations. Yeah, okay. So he plays Sherlock Holmes as Tony Stark. So what. Still fun to watch.

I must say though, the thing that I enjoyed most about this movie was the treatment of Dr. Watson. Jude Law was a good choice. Did a great job with the part. But I especially like the fact that Watson was actually a help to Holmes. In all of the other Sherlock Holmes movies, Watson is portrayed as a bumbling, stupid, but loyal dog to Holmes, with no real redeeming skills of his own.

Now, I know you will say But Patwoman, Sherlock Holmes as an action hero? Wasn't he more cerebral than physical? Wasn't that the point? What's with all this boxing and karate? To which I will remind you that I'm not a purist. We don't have to stick to the novels for a movie to be enjoyable. (Remember how good Jurassic Park was? And it had nothing to do with the book, except that there were dinosaurs in both.)

And it's a good thing, too. Because if we were comparing to the books, I'm not sure how this might stack up. The movie had nice action sequences (steampunk, baby!) and the books do rather drag. The actors do a good job making the characters likable, where the books pretty much treat everyone else as accessories to Sherlock Holmes.

The big difference is probably that the books actually had plots. I mean, they were convoluted and far-fetched, but they made some kind of sense. I'm not sure exactly what was going on in the movie.

Not that it really mattered. It was fun to watch, at any rate. I think it would be a nice franchise series.