Post by Gront on Jan 2, 2010 18:26:53 GMT -5
So I saw Sherlock Holmes yesterday, and let me say it was an excellent movie. When I saw the trailers I wasn't sure if it would actually be like the Sherlock Holmes books, but after seeing the movie, the fanboy in me was (mostly) satisfied. However, the movie was clearly written by someone who had simply read (and quite likely enjoyed) the stories, not a Holmes fanboy (like me). The writers threw in a significant amount of reference to the books, but missed a lot of small details that were a tad jarring to the original characters. Below I've made a short list of a few:
If you haven't seen the movie, you should go see it. If you have seen the movie, you should go see it again, because it was that good. I know I will.
What I liked: Holmes shooting a V.R. in his wall. In the short stories, Watson mentions several times that, when Holmes had gone caseless for a long period of time, he got bored and started target practice with his revolver against the wall (something that drove their landlady crazy), specifically mentioning one instance where he shot a "patriotic V.R." into the wall. (V.R. stands for "Victoria Regina," or "Queen Victoria" in Latin. The Brits put it on a loty of stuff; it was even on the police helmets later in the movie.)
What I didn't like: Holmes emptying his revolver in an attempt to shoot Blackwood. In the books, Doyle goes out of his way to ensure that neither Holmes nor Watson fire their revolver at a human being. Watson brings his along almost every adventure, but the most he does is pistol whip someone with it, and Holmes, in addition to shooting the wallpaper, will occasionally put down an animal (off the top of my head I can only remember him shooting a poisonous snake and a vicious dog). The duo goes out of their way to avoid killing people, so it was a little weird to see them shoot so aggressively towards Blackwood.
What I liked: Holmes did weird experiments. In addition to attempting to build a silencer (which I don't rmemeber from the books but was definitely something he could have attempted), he also played his violin for some flies, an experiment he took six hours to prepare by catching each insect individually. This experiment was a little out of character, as it didn't have any bearing on any potential casework (Holmes despised learning things that could not help him in the field), but this could have been easily rectified by imagining they were bees instead of files (Holmes was fascinated by bees and later retired to become a beekeeper).
What I didn't like: Holmes experimented on his dog. First of all, Holmes never had a dog. Second, the only dog Holmes ever uses in the stories is a hound named Toby, not a bulldog named Gladstone. Finally, any non-lethal chemicals and whatnot that Holmes wanted to test the effects of went straight into his bloodstream (which occasionally endangered both him and Watson, like in The Adventure of the Devil's Foot).
What I liked: Irene Adler was in the movie. Although she only appears in one story, Watson notes that she was the one woman Holmes was fascinated with (in general, he disliked them due to their profound influence in many crimes). Basically, Irene was Holmes' one crush.
What I didn't like: Holmes and Irene had a relationship (of sorts). Holmes' "crush" (if you could even call it that) on Irene was pretty much one-way, since she gets marries another man for love in the one story she appears in.
What I liked: Moriarty was in the movie, and was never seen. I seriously don't think Moriarty could have been done better atmospherically. Doyle never really alluded to Moriarty before his appearance (he didn't plan that far ahead, I guess), but if he had, I'm sure it would have resembled in text what the writers and cinematographers did in the movie.
What I didn't like: Morarty didn't strut his stuff. Aside from the bluff at the end (where Irene steals the cyanide to clear the way for Moriarty to pick up the remote-control device) and the clever gun rig he had, Morarty's genius wasn't really demonstrated. Granted, there wasn't much opportunity for it, but I wanted him to be cooler. This wasn't a big problem, I just got excited when I saw him and was let down when he didn't do anything.
What I liked: Holmes was a boxer. Watson constantly mentions how Holmes kept himself in shape by boxing (after all, what use is a detective who is too out-of-shape to chase a suspect?), and I figure most boxing in Victorian England was in those dirty, hidden boxing rings.
What I didn't like: My friend told me Sherlock was a fencer in the movie because he got Holmes and Sulu (yes, from Star Trek) confused. I have no idea how he confused the two. The movie did boxing right, though.
What I liked: The writers used techniques and materials that were available in Victorian England in the "master plot." Honey-based glue was a nice touch, and it was pretty funny watching Holmes lick the rock (eccentric behavior was pretty in-character at a crime scene, no matter what it was) to figure it out.
What I didn't like: THEY USED THE "IT'S FAKE DEATH POISON" TRICK. ARRRGH. Doyle overused poisons that either killed without a trace or fake death poisons in the Holmes stories (I forgive him; he was out of ideas by story 50 or so). I've seen the trick on hundereds of detective shows (I'm looking at you, CSI). I actually dismissed the idea while I was watching the movie because it was SO OVERUSED. Why couldn't they have used that shocking stick Holmes found as a defibrillator? Sure, it wouldn't have provided a strong enough shock, but I figured that would be a minor oversight in the physics of electricity compared with it KNOCKING THE GIANT ACROSS THE ROOM. This hardly ruined the movie for me, but I was disappointed.
I'm sure there are other points, but those are the only ones I remember right now.
What I didn't like: Holmes emptying his revolver in an attempt to shoot Blackwood. In the books, Doyle goes out of his way to ensure that neither Holmes nor Watson fire their revolver at a human being. Watson brings his along almost every adventure, but the most he does is pistol whip someone with it, and Holmes, in addition to shooting the wallpaper, will occasionally put down an animal (off the top of my head I can only remember him shooting a poisonous snake and a vicious dog). The duo goes out of their way to avoid killing people, so it was a little weird to see them shoot so aggressively towards Blackwood.
What I liked: Holmes did weird experiments. In addition to attempting to build a silencer (which I don't rmemeber from the books but was definitely something he could have attempted), he also played his violin for some flies, an experiment he took six hours to prepare by catching each insect individually. This experiment was a little out of character, as it didn't have any bearing on any potential casework (Holmes despised learning things that could not help him in the field), but this could have been easily rectified by imagining they were bees instead of files (Holmes was fascinated by bees and later retired to become a beekeeper).
What I didn't like: Holmes experimented on his dog. First of all, Holmes never had a dog. Second, the only dog Holmes ever uses in the stories is a hound named Toby, not a bulldog named Gladstone. Finally, any non-lethal chemicals and whatnot that Holmes wanted to test the effects of went straight into his bloodstream (which occasionally endangered both him and Watson, like in The Adventure of the Devil's Foot).
What I liked: Irene Adler was in the movie. Although she only appears in one story, Watson notes that she was the one woman Holmes was fascinated with (in general, he disliked them due to their profound influence in many crimes). Basically, Irene was Holmes' one crush.
What I didn't like: Holmes and Irene had a relationship (of sorts). Holmes' "crush" (if you could even call it that) on Irene was pretty much one-way, since she gets marries another man for love in the one story she appears in.
What I liked: Moriarty was in the movie, and was never seen. I seriously don't think Moriarty could have been done better atmospherically. Doyle never really alluded to Moriarty before his appearance (he didn't plan that far ahead, I guess), but if he had, I'm sure it would have resembled in text what the writers and cinematographers did in the movie.
What I didn't like: Morarty didn't strut his stuff. Aside from the bluff at the end (where Irene steals the cyanide to clear the way for Moriarty to pick up the remote-control device) and the clever gun rig he had, Morarty's genius wasn't really demonstrated. Granted, there wasn't much opportunity for it, but I wanted him to be cooler. This wasn't a big problem, I just got excited when I saw him and was let down when he didn't do anything.
What I liked: Holmes was a boxer. Watson constantly mentions how Holmes kept himself in shape by boxing (after all, what use is a detective who is too out-of-shape to chase a suspect?), and I figure most boxing in Victorian England was in those dirty, hidden boxing rings.
What I didn't like: My friend told me Sherlock was a fencer in the movie because he got Holmes and Sulu (yes, from Star Trek) confused. I have no idea how he confused the two. The movie did boxing right, though.
What I liked: The writers used techniques and materials that were available in Victorian England in the "master plot." Honey-based glue was a nice touch, and it was pretty funny watching Holmes lick the rock (eccentric behavior was pretty in-character at a crime scene, no matter what it was) to figure it out.
What I didn't like: THEY USED THE "IT'S FAKE DEATH POISON" TRICK. ARRRGH. Doyle overused poisons that either killed without a trace or fake death poisons in the Holmes stories (I forgive him; he was out of ideas by story 50 or so). I've seen the trick on hundereds of detective shows (I'm looking at you, CSI). I actually dismissed the idea while I was watching the movie because it was SO OVERUSED. Why couldn't they have used that shocking stick Holmes found as a defibrillator? Sure, it wouldn't have provided a strong enough shock, but I figured that would be a minor oversight in the physics of electricity compared with it KNOCKING THE GIANT ACROSS THE ROOM. This hardly ruined the movie for me, but I was disappointed.
I'm sure there are other points, but those are the only ones I remember right now.
If you haven't seen the movie, you should go see it. If you have seen the movie, you should go see it again, because it was that good. I know I will.
