Sherlock Holmes

[Mike Renzulli]

Monica and I went to see Sherlock Holmes last weekend. While the previews of the film made the film look good, I was concerned that the scenes in them were the only good parts of the film.

I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Sherlock Holmes is absolutely great!

Despite the Hollywoodication by making it more action-oriented, according to one person I know who read all of the Sherlock Holmes novels, the essential elements of Holmes are in the movie version.

I really liked what they did with this film and Objectivists can certainly appreciate it since the main theme of the film is reason and logic prevail over mysticism.

The plot of the film centers on a murder mystery in which Holmes becomes romantically involved with a woman who is a career criminal and had a relationship with Holmes before.

Not only does Holmes have to locate someone the woman is looking for but he also uncovers a plot to overthrow the government of England which involves a clash between mystic cults who have members in key positions in Parliament.

I won't go into any more details, except to say, when it comes to Sherlock Holmes, there is a logical explanation for everything!

Go see this film. It was worth the ticket price and I look forward to it's sequels.

Edited January 16, 2010 by Mike Renzulli

[Robert Campbell]

Mike,

I enjoyed the movie, though there was more than a little Hollywoodification going on. There is scarcely any action-movie-style derring-do in the original stories (except in the scene where Arthur Conan Doyle, who was trying to kill his character off, had Holmes duke it out with Professor Moriarty). No massive Dan-Brown-style conspiracies either.

What makes the movie worthwhile is Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Holmes; his unsociability, distrust of women, and, um, occasional indulgence in cocaine are all authentic, as are the tremendous inferential powers. (Holmes was supposed to be a better violinist than he seemed to be in this film, but you can't win them all.) Jude Law makes an excellent Watson as well. And I'll credit the makers of this film for including Irene Adler, an interesting and often neglected secondary character.

Robert Campbell

[jeffrey smith]

Mike,

I enjoyed the movie, though there was more than a little Hollywoodification going on. There is scarcely any action-movie-style derring-do in the original stories (except in the scene where Arthur Conan Doyle, who was trying to kill his character off, had Holmes duke it out with Professor Moriarty). No massive Dan-Brown-style conspiracies either.

What makes the movie worthwhile is Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Holmes; his unsociability, distrust of women, and, um, occasional indulgence in cocaine are all authentic, as are the tremendous inferential powers. (Holmes was supposed to be a better violinist than he seemed to be in this film, but you can't win them all.) Jude Law makes an excellent Watson as well. And I'll credit the makers of this film for including Irene Adler, an interesting and often neglected secondary character.

Robert Campbell

There's more derring-do than that, although of course the short story form didn't allow the room necessary for long sequences. Nevertheless, there are significant chase sequences in The Sign of the Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles that would satisfy any screenwriter--indeed, in the former, there's enough to make the chase blockbuster-status, with sniffing dogs, steamers on the Thames, and a shootout involving an Andaman Island aborigine who shoots poisoned darts from a blowpipe, and a lost treasure at the end of it (not to mention the romantic clinch between Watson and his soon to be wife)--and small incidents scattered among the short stories--the most memborable probably being the scene in The Speckled Band in which the villian bends an iron poker into a knot with his bare hands to display his strength, and Holmes reciprocates by bending the poker back into shape with his bare hands, and also the scene in Charles Augustus Milverton in which Holmes and Watson burgle a house and end up witnessing the murder of a blackmailer.

This thread is reminding me that I need to refresh my memory of the Holmes stories...

Jeffrey S.