Sherlock Holmes Review

Rating-****

When you come down to it, Sherlock Holmes novels are slow, meticulous, and all about the thought process. The character of Holmes is an arrogant, semi anti-social drug addict blessed with amazing deductive powers. People call Holmes the greatest detective in all of literature.

These people pass over great, sober detectives, such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Inspector Jules Maigret. Though I have always had a problem with Holmes for his drug addiction and snarkiness, I own many Holmes movies and all the books. I can say that I know Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective pretty well.

And the Sherlock Holmes I know does NOT do Bourne style stunts. When I saw the trailers for "Sherlock Holmes," I wasn't impressed. The only thing I could think of was: when did Sherlock Holmes become James Bond? I adamantly told people I wouldn't see it. Then it came out, and I went to see it anyway.

Two hours later I left the theater, and it was pretty good. Not an opus of mystery filmmaking, but then again it's hard to do something like that. Mystery fiction is in fact best left to books, as any of the Poirot movies will show.

I think what made me like this movie was that it was much more Holmes-y than the trailers hinted. There was explanation, exposition, and of course, an arrogant Sherlock. Jude Law is also a fantastic Watson, the first person to ever portray a Watson who isn't a bumbling fool or just someone to make Holmes look better.

I also enjoyed that we actually see into Holmes' head in the action scenes. We get a better sense of him as a strategist this way. I was really glad that they made up their own story, since other adaptations with general titles usually try to pull elements from too much source material, and the plot gets crazy. And remember that comment I made about Sherlock Holmes being like Bond? I had more fun watching this movie than the 10 or so most recent bond movies.

Overall, "Sherlock Holmes" is far from a perfect movie, and it's way too long, but I had a ton of fun watching it. Check it out.