Sherlock Holmes 2009 (spoiler-lite, FYI)
Dec. 22nd, 2009 02:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
commotiocordisSo. Twitter will update the LJ with most of the squeeing in a short time, but I had to throw out a regular post just to emphasize.
OH. MY. GOD. Sherlock Holmes was amazing. There are bits I had qualms with--to keep it fairly unspoilery, some of the fight scenes (the first one with the big guy in particular) seemed to just drag on too long, virtually all the funny banter about the dog between Holmes and Watson was eclipsed in my mind by the singularly unfunny dogfart gag, and though![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bleakone quickly set me straight, how/why the police turned on Holmes so quickly wasn't explained in the story very clearly (twas very easy to logic out, but I still had to wonder for a minute).
BUT THE GAY. They were like House and Wilson on their very best days--all of the mischief, none of the malice. There's touching, there's odd-couple banter, there are throw-away lines like when Holmes reaches towards Watson's belt and says "Don't get excited", there's Holmes trying to break up Watson and the fiancée, and there's real, genuine affection between the two. As an unapologetic slasher, I didn't even have to work for this one--hell, I would have caught it with my eyes closed and one ear plugged, and I loved it. There's a lot of Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law RPS-ability floating around in interviews and such as well, as would be expected with chemistry and an on-screenbromance bout of eyeshagging of this magnitude.
As someone who has read none of the Doyle canon and only absorbed the general gist of the stories from general culture (thank you, Wishbone), I was struck by how true a lot of the House/Wilson relationship is to (at least this depiction of) the Holmes/Watson relationship--in fact, some of it was so striking that I really begin to question whether some coloring of Downey and Law's portrayals didn't occur as a result of such a clear and highly-visible Sherlock Holmes analogue in the House characters. (Partway through, I began referring to Scotland Yard as The Ducklings in my head, in reference to House's gaggle of fellows.)
One scene really impressed me because Robert Downey Jr. (or rather, Guy Richie, as it was clearly more of a directorial decision) played Sherlock in a restaurant scene as fairly clearly some form of something on the low end of the autism spectrum--the camera jumped between sounds and sights and noticing minute details in a cacophonous way that really screamed hypersensitivity to me. That's something that they've fiddled with once or twice on House (the episode "Lines in the Sand" with the autistic patient coming immediately to mind) and really deserves exploration. How much does the genius spectrum overlap with that of autism or AD/HD? I'd go so far as to call myself one of the more socially-adjusted members of the "Program for the Exceptionally Gifted" in my city (though the exact opposite of a social butterfly, I am this), but 99% of us had at least one pinpointable neurosis.
Of note is Sherlock Holmes' drug use being completely absent from the movie save one particularly trippy scene in Holmes' head that I assumed was drug induced but was never shown to be. Liquor is present, as well as tobacco out the wazoo (though I was interested to notice a disclaimer at the end of the credits stating that no money nor anything else of worth was accepted in exchange for the presence/promotion of tobacco products in the film), but nothing harder is administered by Holmes to himself. Dad mentioned yesterday that he'd heard that this was going to be the case because RDj has had drug issues in the past, but I assumed it wouldn't be so simply because that's such a well-known part of the Holmes character that they wouldn't dare leave it out. Turns out they did. (Or if it was even implied beyond possibly the one aforementioned scene, I missed it completely, which is to the same effect.)
Also, Guy Richie. My dad had been sort of "Meh. Hope he doesn't blow this, since all he's really done is marry Madonna," so I was vaguely worried. BE NOT AFRAID, THE CHEMISTRY OVERPOWERS ALL. Also, THE MUSIC OH MY GOD THE MUSIC. I was excited before even walking in to the theatre because I had heard that it was Hans Zimmer, who also scored/was score producer for THE LION KING and all three PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. He does not disappoint. Not at all, especially for someone with a fiddling background like myself--a lot of string-driven music (as befits a movie wherein the titular character annoys his partner by "playing the violin at three in the morning").
In an overall format sort of way--and this may be a throwback to the actual books; again, haven't read them (yet! They've just been bumped to the top of my reading list--recs for the especially H/W ones are much obliged!) and so if it is, this can be completely ignored--I wasn't a crazy fan of the way they just vaguely showed Sherlock touching things, looking at them, etc., but never really confirming theories or even elucidating them until the wrap-up at the end. I would have liked a little more believability than just a flashback to oh, he touched that and rubbed it between his fingers so he must have known that it was a special supersekrit kind of magically activated poison. A shot of him dropping some kind of chemical on his thumb shortly thereafter and there being a reaction (since it's poison, I'm imagining pain and thus the following scene being similar in tenderness and homoeroticism to that of Wilson bandaging House's hand after he bashed it with the pestle, but that'show it should go for realsies just me) would have lessened the strain on my credibility.
Finally, SEQUEL. I mean, not since Pirates of the Caribbean has there been such a blatantly obvious sequel setup, but similarly to Pirates, I didn't really feel unfulfilled. This was slightly farther towards unfulfilled than PotC, to be honest, but the immediate mystery was solved, and if another that had been running through and between and tangentially to and around the main one the entire time was left unwrapped *cough*Moriarty*cough* (seriously, yet again, never read the books and I could see that coming from the very beginning), that was sort of okay. Especially considering that the larger mystery is Moriarty, and knowing that makes you sort of figure "Well, yeah, he's the nemesis."Captain Hammer is my nemesis. . . . Captain Hammer, corporate tool." It's not going to be solved in a single encounter, particularly not the very first encounter." If the movie hadn't had its penultimate scene with them recapping everything more or less in the perspective of what they didn't know (meaning the Moriarty stuff), I think it would have been less recently emphasized in my mind and thus less buggy. But I'm especially okay with it because it means SEQUEL.
(Dear Watson. Dump the broad. Spoiler alert, in the books she dies anyway and you go back to Holmes. Might as well skip all the middle stuff and just not bother moving. Love, the women. All of us. And some of the guys.)
Anyway, since it's pushing 3 and I can't do much more talking without pulling out spoilery specifics, I say this, to recap: OMG THE GAY. SEQUEL NOW PLS. SEND ME HOLMES/WATSON FIC RECS AND THE DOYLE BOOKS WITH PARTICULAR HOYAY CONTENT. MUST WATCH AGAIN SOON. xD
ETA: Yeah, Sherlock Holmes just got its own tag. I like this fandom that much.
OH. MY. GOD. Sherlock Holmes was amazing. There are bits I had qualms with--to keep it fairly unspoilery, some of the fight scenes (the first one with the big guy in particular) seemed to just drag on too long, virtually all the funny banter about the dog between Holmes and Watson was eclipsed in my mind by the singularly unfunny dogfart gag, and though
bleakone quickly set me straight, how/why the police turned on Holmes so quickly wasn't explained in the story very clearly (twas very easy to logic out, but I still had to wonder for a minute).BUT THE GAY. They were like House and Wilson on their very best days--all of the mischief, none of the malice. There's touching, there's odd-couple banter, there are throw-away lines like when Holmes reaches towards Watson's belt and says "Don't get excited", there's Holmes trying to break up Watson and the fiancée, and there's real, genuine affection between the two. As an unapologetic slasher, I didn't even have to work for this one--hell, I would have caught it with my eyes closed and one ear plugged, and I loved it. There's a lot of Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law RPS-ability floating around in interviews and such as well, as would be expected with chemistry and an on-screen
As someone who has read none of the Doyle canon and only absorbed the general gist of the stories from general culture (thank you, Wishbone), I was struck by how true a lot of the House/Wilson relationship is to (at least this depiction of) the Holmes/Watson relationship--in fact, some of it was so striking that I really begin to question whether some coloring of Downey and Law's portrayals didn't occur as a result of such a clear and highly-visible Sherlock Holmes analogue in the House characters. (Partway through, I began referring to Scotland Yard as The Ducklings in my head, in reference to House's gaggle of fellows.)
One scene really impressed me because Robert Downey Jr. (or rather, Guy Richie, as it was clearly more of a directorial decision) played Sherlock in a restaurant scene as fairly clearly some form of something on the low end of the autism spectrum--the camera jumped between sounds and sights and noticing minute details in a cacophonous way that really screamed hypersensitivity to me. That's something that they've fiddled with once or twice on House (the episode "Lines in the Sand" with the autistic patient coming immediately to mind) and really deserves exploration. How much does the genius spectrum overlap with that of autism or AD/HD? I'd go so far as to call myself one of the more socially-adjusted members of the "Program for the Exceptionally Gifted" in my city (though the exact opposite of a social butterfly, I am this), but 99% of us had at least one pinpointable neurosis.
Of note is Sherlock Holmes' drug use being completely absent from the movie save one particularly trippy scene in Holmes' head that I assumed was drug induced but was never shown to be. Liquor is present, as well as tobacco out the wazoo (though I was interested to notice a disclaimer at the end of the credits stating that no money nor anything else of worth was accepted in exchange for the presence/promotion of tobacco products in the film), but nothing harder is administered by Holmes to himself. Dad mentioned yesterday that he'd heard that this was going to be the case because RDj has had drug issues in the past, but I assumed it wouldn't be so simply because that's such a well-known part of the Holmes character that they wouldn't dare leave it out. Turns out they did. (Or if it was even implied beyond possibly the one aforementioned scene, I missed it completely, which is to the same effect.)
Also, Guy Richie. My dad had been sort of "Meh. Hope he doesn't blow this, since all he's really done is marry Madonna," so I was vaguely worried. BE NOT AFRAID, THE CHEMISTRY OVERPOWERS ALL. Also, THE MUSIC OH MY GOD THE MUSIC. I was excited before even walking in to the theatre because I had heard that it was Hans Zimmer, who also scored/was score producer for THE LION KING and all three PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. He does not disappoint. Not at all, especially for someone with a fiddling background like myself--a lot of string-driven music (as befits a movie wherein the titular character annoys his partner by "playing the violin at three in the morning").
In an overall format sort of way--and this may be a throwback to the actual books; again, haven't read them (yet! They've just been bumped to the top of my reading list--recs for the especially H/W ones are much obliged!) and so if it is, this can be completely ignored--I wasn't a crazy fan of the way they just vaguely showed Sherlock touching things, looking at them, etc., but never really confirming theories or even elucidating them until the wrap-up at the end. I would have liked a little more believability than just a flashback to oh, he touched that and rubbed it between his fingers so he must have known that it was a special supersekrit kind of magically activated poison. A shot of him dropping some kind of chemical on his thumb shortly thereafter and there being a reaction (since it's poison, I'm imagining pain and thus the following scene being similar in tenderness and homoeroticism to that of Wilson bandaging House's hand after he bashed it with the pestle, but that's
Finally, SEQUEL. I mean, not since Pirates of the Caribbean has there been such a blatantly obvious sequel setup, but similarly to Pirates, I didn't really feel unfulfilled. This was slightly farther towards unfulfilled than PotC, to be honest, but the immediate mystery was solved, and if another that had been running through and between and tangentially to and around the main one the entire time was left unwrapped *cough*Moriarty*cough* (seriously, yet again, never read the books and I could see that coming from the very beginning), that was sort of okay. Especially considering that the larger mystery is Moriarty, and knowing that makes you sort of figure "Well, yeah, he's the nemesis.
(Dear Watson. Dump the broad. Spoiler alert, in the books she dies anyway and you go back to Holmes. Might as well skip all the middle stuff and just not bother moving. Love, the women. All of us. And some of the guys.)
Anyway, since it's pushing 3 and I can't do much more talking without pulling out spoilery specifics, I say this, to recap: OMG THE GAY. SEQUEL NOW PLS. SEND ME HOLMES/WATSON FIC RECS AND THE DOYLE BOOKS WITH PARTICULAR HOYAY CONTENT. MUST WATCH AGAIN SOON. xD
ETA: Yeah, Sherlock Holmes just got its own tag. I like this fandom that much.
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no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-22 07:12 pm (UTC)I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much if there wasn't so much gay (I hear Richie watched Law and Downey do a few takes and then would say "Okay, now do a heterosexual one"). It's hard to look at it outside of the slashermind, because their camaraderie was such a driving point of the film--I don't think you could take it out, and that's really what made the movie for me.
If your theatre happens to have it, as mine does, the new shaking seats thing, where they're queued up to bits in the score and work sort of like a video game rumble pack and shake you around a bit? They're debuting it with this movie, so even if you've not seen it, it might yet have them. Don't waste the money to upgrade to them--there was a trial thing where you watched the SH trailer in one of them outside the theatre and it was nothing special. Minor vibrations with the bass line, some tilts during punches and such, I felt it was more distracting than anything. (Now, Star Trek might have been cool in them, with ship battles and such, but with punching battles it isn't as necessary.)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-09 04:17 pm (UTC)Everything you said about House/Wilson. Yes. I was actually a bit surprised when Holmes blurted out "Admit it!"... Brought back memories.
And the autism question... I haven't really tought about that while watching the movie (must watch it again) but also noticed the hypersensitivity thing. It really makes sense. For both House and Holmes.
About Holmes's drug use, Watson mentioned that Holmes was taking something "meant for eye surgery". They didn't mention the cocaine, but I don't think they'll completely leave it out if a sequel comes.
I had my doubts about Guy Ritchie and Downey Jr. I just couldn't see the Holmes I was familiar with. But he surprised me... And I actually fell in love with him a little...
And Hans Zimmer... God! The soundtrack is... I want to listen to it forever.
(...)but never really confirming theories or even elucidating them until the wrap-up at the end. I would have liked a little more believability than just a flashback to oh, he touched that and rubbed it between his fingers so he must have known that it was a special supersekrit kind of magically activated poison.
You are already reading the books by now, right? Because ACD's Holmes does just that. But I think you already know :)
And YES SEQUEL! If the next movie is going to be about Moriarty then it will be based in The Final Problem. And slashy things will happen and it will become a trilogy. CAN'T WAIT.
I agree with a lot of what you wrote... Vere nice review of the movie. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-09 05:57 pm (UTC)True. I'm still trying to figure out what that was, do you know? I know cocaine itself was used during eye surgery right around that time, but I can't see it being drinkable and you remaining conscious for anything more than a mouthful (Texas limits you to 10% drops, so he'd need much less than he usually injects, which presumably is a fraction of a swig).
Because ACD's Holmes does just that.
Indeed. I think that was more the scientist in me that wanted to see more of the steps and testing of his theories.
The soundtrack is... I want to listen to it forever.
I wasn't actually as impressed with the soundtrack as I had hoped. Admittedly, I've only listened once through and wasn't hardly giving it my full attention, but it seems like he only really constructed one main "Holmes" theme, and used variations on that throughout all of the songs. It sounds amazing in the background of the film, but without the action you really notice the repetition. This may be all my disappointment that "The Rocky Road to Dublin" wasn't included on the soundtrack carrying over to my opinion of the album, though, LOL. I loved that song.
And slashy things will happen and it will become a trilogy.
I HOPE SO VERY VERY MUCH. I'm worried, though. It could have done terrifically, but up against Avatar, I'm not sure of the numbers but my impression is that it isn't making as much as they'd hoped (and considering it's so expensive of a movie to make. . .). And Downey with the two franchises--if it comes down to it, Iron Man was much more profitable, I think. Which is why in an hour and a half I'm going to see it again. Put my $8 in, since when I saw it the first time it was one of those free preview screenings. *pumps fist* YES, $8 closer to a trilogy!
Thank you very much, m'dear. It's lovely to hear that on occasion, someone else sees these fangirly ramblings of mine.