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Directed by Guy Ritchie
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Sherlock Holmes When
director Guy Ritchie burst upon the scene, with “Lock, Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch,” his work had a freshness, even an ironic sense that most of us missed
elsewhere. But his new film
“Sherlock Holmes,” even though it’s getting more box-office
play than anything but “Avatar,” is a complete misconception of
just what it is about Sherlock Holmes that’s kept him in
everybody’s life for more than a century. Holmes was endowed by Arthur Conan
Doyle with an unearthly ability to ratiocinate, coupled with the ability to
disguise himself so no one could identify him. Yes, there would always be a moment
for “Come, Watson, we must hurry...” but his appeal lay in his
ability to solve murders by means of his mind. Now,
in the new “Sherlock Holmes,” Ritchie and his writers have made
him into an action hero, and then paced the film so frantically that we have
no time (or interest) in enjoying his ability to solve mysteries. Robert Downey, Jr., can command almost
any screen (Jude Law less so), but twisting Holmes around into another
“Iron Man” does no one any good. The film is frantic, and is paced with quick cuts that don’t enhance the story,
and even keep us from enjoying any sense of a superman at work. Let me assure you that in the
right circumstances I love quick cuts – think of Paul Greengrass’s “Bourne Ultimatum” for a
lesson in how to use them properly, editing them to give the film
extraordinary power. There
is one wonderful piece of casting in “Sherlock Holmes,” though;
it’s Mark Strong as Lord Blackwood, the villain. He plans to hold England in the palm
of his hand, first by escaping his own hanging, then by poisoning all the
members of Parliament who oppose him, finally of course by killing Holmes and
Watson. But here again Ritchie
and his writers have made the wrong choices. Instead of following each of these
things, one at a time, letting the suspense build, they withhold the
revelation of how he did them all until the end of the film – when we
no longer care. Downey and Law
are nothing but action figures, suitable for Game Boy and the inevitable
sequels to the movie, but have no appropriate personalities, and simply
confront one ticking time bomb after another. Alfred Hitchcock said, “Planting
a bomb and having it go off is excitement; planting a bomb and NOT having it
go off is suspense.” This
film of “Sherlock Holmes” turns what should be suspense into
barely credible action and loses the impact of both. |