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Belated Sherlock Holmes review
I meant to make a post when I got back from the UK, possibly a rant about the supreme suckiness of Easyjet and why one should NEVER travel to Gatwick airport in winter, but then I got cought up in RL stuff, and most of the rage abated.
I finally saw Sherlock Holmes, about a month after the rest of fandom.
-RDJ is the awesome, though this is hardly news. Having said that, while I enjoyed his slightly unhinged, intense portrayal of Holmes, Jeremy Brett will always be my Holmes.
-Law’s Watson, on the other hand, is officially my favourite. And not just because he’s handsome like in the books-I actually think Law is aging kind of badly, and his douchebaggery keeps me from finding him truly hot. But I like that this Watson at least occasionally stood up to Holmes and mocked him. His ego doesn’t need to get any bigger.
-Ok, so the plot made NO sense. That isn’t necessarily an obstacle to my enjoying a movie, especially since I thought other parts (the character stuff, the acting, the pretty, pretty sets) worked quite well. Still, when you half expect a “by Dan Brown” writing credit at the end, that’s not good. I mean, forget the anachronisms and the almost cartoon-like villain, WTF was up with those nonsensical tunnels leading to a bridge?
-It somehow mitigates the supervillain’s threatening threat when it’s not that far from the historical reality. You mean the British Empire will malevolently take over the world? OH NOES, YOU DON’T SAY! No relation to events that might have already happened (and hey, Watson explicitly mentioned his time in Afganistan and India-here’s a tip, he wasn’t there to take in the sights!).
-Hey, but Blackwood mentioned retaking that pesky former colony across the Atlantic. Because in Hollywoodland, only those who threaten the greatness of America are actual villains.
-I could have done with fewer and shorter fighting scenes. The massive French guy was great visual gag, but it got rather boring and repetitive after a while.
-Mind you, I did enjoy the bit where they showed Holmes doing a detailed play-by-play of the fight in his head before every actual fight.
-And speaking of fight, nothing hotter that a shirtless, bloodied up RDJ beating the other boxer into a pulp. I’m aware I might need help.
-I chose to interpret Holmes’ reference to performing the faux-magic ceremony with some enhancements of his own as a covert reference to book!Holmes’ infamous drug use. Especially because of the ‘down the rabbit hole’ phrasing.
-I did like how Mary was written, but the actress did nothing for me. Especially since I found her acting choices…odd. I enjoyed her bailing out Watson and leaving Holmes in prison.
-Irene, on the other hand, is a BAMF. Not that she wasn’t already in the books, but I liked that they made her more action figure, to go with action figure Holmes and Watson. I like that her attraction to Holmes aside, she’s looking out for her own interests foremost, and doesn’t automatically drink the Cult Of Holmes coolaid.
-She and Holmes had mad chemistry. I want to get my hands on some Holmes/Irene and OT3 fic.
-Not that I’m naïve enough to think fandom will provide. It’s more likely that she’ll be erased or killed in fic, though I suspect it won’t be as bad as what poor Mary will get, for daring to get in the way of the TRU LUV of Holmes and Watson.
-Speaking of Holmes/Watson, holy shit, blatant slash is blatant. I did giggle at several parts at the old married couple-ness of them, though I’m getting a bit weary of all the obvious nudge-nudge, wink-wink fanservice creators seem to practice lately (seriously, this was reaching House proportions). They love to cash in on the female viewer obsession with performed homoeroticism, but will never go as far as to have an actual gay protagonist in a mainstream movie/show.
I finally saw Sherlock Holmes, about a month after the rest of fandom.
-RDJ is the awesome, though this is hardly news. Having said that, while I enjoyed his slightly unhinged, intense portrayal of Holmes, Jeremy Brett will always be my Holmes.
-Law’s Watson, on the other hand, is officially my favourite. And not just because he’s handsome like in the books-I actually think Law is aging kind of badly, and his douchebaggery keeps me from finding him truly hot. But I like that this Watson at least occasionally stood up to Holmes and mocked him. His ego doesn’t need to get any bigger.
-Ok, so the plot made NO sense. That isn’t necessarily an obstacle to my enjoying a movie, especially since I thought other parts (the character stuff, the acting, the pretty, pretty sets) worked quite well. Still, when you half expect a “by Dan Brown” writing credit at the end, that’s not good. I mean, forget the anachronisms and the almost cartoon-like villain, WTF was up with those nonsensical tunnels leading to a bridge?
-It somehow mitigates the supervillain’s threatening threat when it’s not that far from the historical reality. You mean the British Empire will malevolently take over the world? OH NOES, YOU DON’T SAY! No relation to events that might have already happened (and hey, Watson explicitly mentioned his time in Afganistan and India-here’s a tip, he wasn’t there to take in the sights!).
-Hey, but Blackwood mentioned retaking that pesky former colony across the Atlantic. Because in Hollywoodland, only those who threaten the greatness of America are actual villains.
-I could have done with fewer and shorter fighting scenes. The massive French guy was great visual gag, but it got rather boring and repetitive after a while.
-Mind you, I did enjoy the bit where they showed Holmes doing a detailed play-by-play of the fight in his head before every actual fight.
-And speaking of fight, nothing hotter that a shirtless, bloodied up RDJ beating the other boxer into a pulp. I’m aware I might need help.
-I chose to interpret Holmes’ reference to performing the faux-magic ceremony with some enhancements of his own as a covert reference to book!Holmes’ infamous drug use. Especially because of the ‘down the rabbit hole’ phrasing.
-I did like how Mary was written, but the actress did nothing for me. Especially since I found her acting choices…odd. I enjoyed her bailing out Watson and leaving Holmes in prison.
-Irene, on the other hand, is a BAMF. Not that she wasn’t already in the books, but I liked that they made her more action figure, to go with action figure Holmes and Watson. I like that her attraction to Holmes aside, she’s looking out for her own interests foremost, and doesn’t automatically drink the Cult Of Holmes coolaid.
-She and Holmes had mad chemistry. I want to get my hands on some Holmes/Irene and OT3 fic.
-Not that I’m naïve enough to think fandom will provide. It’s more likely that she’ll be erased or killed in fic, though I suspect it won’t be as bad as what poor Mary will get, for daring to get in the way of the TRU LUV of Holmes and Watson.
-Speaking of Holmes/Watson, holy shit, blatant slash is blatant. I did giggle at several parts at the old married couple-ness of them, though I’m getting a bit weary of all the obvious nudge-nudge, wink-wink fanservice creators seem to practice lately (seriously, this was reaching House proportions). They love to cash in on the female viewer obsession with performed homoeroticism, but will never go as far as to have an actual gay protagonist in a mainstream movie/show.
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I don't know if you're referring to JL's behaviors in regards to his daughter, but if so, definitely total douchebag. And that said I also really enjoyed his Watson - he worked so well for me in that role!
Mostly what I was trying to say in my tacked-on review - I loved it, but also recognize it was female-viewers-service without having to go all the way.
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And yeah, I'm talking about Law's behaviour towards his kid and the general way he comes off as an asshole in interviews. He recently said in an interview how women like 'bad boys', which is why he acts like one. Stuff like that isn't particularly cute when a young guy tells it, let alone someone missing most of his original hairline.
Mostly what I was trying to say in my tacked-on review - I loved it, but also recognize it was female-viewers-service without having to go all the way.
I just went to check out your review and yes, exactly. I'm experiencing real fanservice fatigue.
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Ah there's nothing wrong with fancying the bloody and shirtless RDJ. That's what me and a fiend of mine call responding to your inner cavewoman.
About that fanservice. Is that what it is? Are they(film makers) deliberately doing it? Is the slash demographic really big enough to bother wooing? Or do we merely have our slash-spectacles on? It's lame that I can't tell anymore.
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I don't know whether they're deliberately targetting slashers-there's more reasons to play a scene homoerotically.
From the Wikipedia entry on the movie Ben Hur:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_%281959_film%29
In an interview for the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, screenwriter Gore Vidal asserts that he persuaded Wyler to direct Stephen Boyd to create a veiled homoerotic subtext between Messala and Ben-Hur. Vidal says he wanted to help explain Messala's extreme reaction to Ben-Hur's refusal to name his fellow Jews to a Roman officer, and suggested to Wyler that Messala and Ben-Hur had been homosexual lovers while growing up, but that Ben-Hur was no longer interested, so that Messala's vindictiveness would be motivated by his feeling of rejection. Since the Hollywood production code would not permit this, the idea would have to be implied by the actors, and Vidal suggested to Wyler that he direct Stephen Boyd to play the role that way, but not tell Heston. Vidal claims that Wyler took his advice, and that the results can be seen in the film.
So obviously it's not a new phenomenon. Though it's my guess that with Sherlock Holmes, part of it is a nod to the notoriety of Holmes/Watson.
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Haha, I just realised I referred to my "fiend" rather than "friend" there. How apt.
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when were you here? I totall missed that....
ETA: Okay, checked your LJ and found the relevant post - I was still sick and exhausted from my flight and didn't check LJ on the 23rd :(
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instead I'll use a Burn Notice icon because it is on tonight...
last night was Leverage!
It all helps me bear the fact that Dexter's Season 4 has ended (with a bang).
Of course I'm REALLY looking forward to Dollhouse tomorrow night!!
Basically I thoroughly agree w/your review, but I will say that I always thought the original stories were silly and nonsensical too.
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I haven't watched the latest Leverage yet-I'm watching the Vampire Diaries right now.
I haven't watched the last two Dollhouse episodes-I want to watch the final three in one go.
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I'm sorry that Joss is having to race through and tell his story in such a short time, but at least Fox is letting him tell an entire story (not hacking it off in the middle). I actually think that the 13 episode format could work for Joss....
(I love having his work on my TV more often!)
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Turns out all that was needed was ho!yay. I'm so shallow.
I want to get my hands on some Holmes/Irene and OT3 fic.
Not that I’m naïve enough to think fandom will provide.
There seems to be an abundance of fic for this fandom already! I've only read a couple, but if you want links, just shout.
a covert reference to book!Holmes’ infamous drug use.
iirc, there's also a subtle one, with Watson examining the bottle Holmes has been drinking, and noting 'This is meant for eye surgery!' Apparently they used cocaine for eye surgery in the Victorian days...
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Oooh, I didn't know about the cocaine/eye surgery, that's really interesting.
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Second, I really enjoyed your review! To my own surprise I liked the movie very much. I certainly didn´t really expect to like a Guy Richie movie, but whattaya know...
RDJ is awesome and all that, but he really is a good Holmes too! The only thing I missed was a dandylike attitude. JB was just unbeatable in that area.
My impression/opinion about the actresses playing Mary and Irene were actually opposite to yours. I quite liked Marys somewhat odd look. Pretty but weird and I thought she was a well chosen Mary. There was something down to earth and genuinely nice about her. I could see the book character in her.
Irene however,- well Rachel McAdams is such a stunner it´s almost boring. As much as I enjoyed her cleverness, her fighting chops and the chemistry with RDJ I would have liked someone a bit more - dare I say it? - ladylike. Personally I thought she was a bit too much the expected super hot chick kind of character. And somehow she doesn´t look very period to me. But all that aside her scenes with Holmes were sizzling. However since romanticizing Holmes was never a thing I am very fond off- ah well.
Oh I would have loved to get a glimpse of Mycroft, don´t you?
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I completely forgot this was a Guy Ritchie movie while watching. And I mean that as a compliment.
It's funny how our opinion of the ladies is the exact opposite. It's not that I minded Mary's look, but the acting perplexed me. And Irene doesn't look like my image of book!Irene but then, neither RDJ isn't my book!Holmes either.
Maybe we'll get Mycroft in the next one.