Ok, so in keeping with my habit of not seeing movies until they’ve been out forever, I just recently watched the Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes, and I have to say, even he couldn’t save it.  Yes, it was pretty.  Yes, the costumes were great.  Yes, the acting was great as far as the script allowed.  But the script, oh, the script!

Hopefully I’m not spoiling this for you, but they spend all movie trying to convince you that everything happens because of magic, so that Sherlock can explain why it isn’t at the end.  Which is great, I’m glad they stuck with the whole rational explanation per Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  However, whomever they got to write the thing did not have near the faculty with that sort of writing as Doyle.  There were far too many unanswered questions, which does not happen in Sherlock Holmes, and while much of the dialogue was actually pretty good, it periodically devolved into so trite it hurt.

Also, I don’t particularly care for this version of Sherlock Holmes.  He’s  less a tortured genius isolated from human interaction by his intellect, and more a spoiled brat.  Essentially, Robert Downey Jr. played  Tony Stark in Victorian dress up.  I also did not care for the “romance” between Sherlock and Irene Adler.  Definitely far too maudlin.

Now, Jude Law was brilliant as Watson.

Now, I understand that Sherlock Holmes is the template for a whole lot of “rational man” characters, like say, Mr. Spock in Star Trek, and yes, that is a bit annoying.  However, you cannot just erase over a century of canon regarding a character like Sherlock Holmes with a flashy film.  Nor should you try.

Honestly, even if this movie and the characters had been called something else, it wouldn’t have been a good movie.  Pretty, yes. Good, no.

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