Honky dory TAB

Plot: Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

I had no expectation for Guy Richie's version of Holmes going in to the cinema, and I came away the same. The movie in its own was fun, quick, and had strong characters but it bump into tempo issues, and somewhat pointless character arcs. I almost forgot it 10 minutes after I saw it.

It lack the spark that Richie is known for. Its there, but its a bit to conveyorbelt with Robert Downey Jr driving the whole thing. Its to safe and by the book/suits if you ask me. Also I was a bit sadend to see guy Richie making such a bland frame to work with.. Slow-motion aside. Was there really any scenes that stood out? Don't get me wrong. It was nicely shot and edited but the whole thing seemed so artificial and quick.

CGI also stands out alot in this one. This might be because we have been overexposed to it the last years. It gave me the same feeling that Steven Summers have (Director of Mummy series/Van helsing/GI JOE) Maybe this was intended but it stood out alot in booth good and bad ways. Everything is dirty and I think the closest thing to a clean Holmes we get is in the poster. He looks nothing like it in the movie. His character was a little two sided for me as he`s scruffy, drugged out looking drinker at one point and then he has to sharpen up and become the master detective, three min later. These two sides of his performance collided to much for me and left me thinking that the writers wanted Downey's rough shenanigans as well as the traditional Sherlock that we all know. It became just to much of a mix.

The strongest "character beat" for me when Holmes had "agreed" to go to a dinner with Watsons fiancée. This is a sequence where you can really see Holmes struggle to work within a social environment as he is obsessed with details. Also strong is the sequence right after where he dissects the fiancée. The way this is delivered was spot on perfect and really explained alot between Holmes and Watson relationship

Granted the bromance between Holmes and Watson was fun and well developed but it came out of such a weird angle that I was more baffled to why the hell do this characters like each-other? This was semi-saved by Holmes "planting" objects for Watson in order for him to get intrigued but it didn't ad up and left a strange rhythm between the two leads. Holmes was a real douchebag in certain scenes and while the audience was laughing I got the feeling that it got underplayed. Like the setting and characters where just there in-order to make a certain joke. I cant really explain it but it took me out of it.

Rachel Macadams is a good actress but here she is just the plaything/instigator for Holmes to follow a "plan" She might have been designed inorder to work for a franchise perhaps? She was kinda interesting since we are told nothing of this character in advance and she totally owns Holmes (twice) but then the interest for her fades as we are given (a bit to obvious) clues about her and Holmes history and she gets reduced to a plot device unfortunately

The mystery was also way to undefined for me to follow. Its almost as if you weren't supposed to figure stuff out on your own as well as it feeding you way to much of what to believe just to snag it away at the last act. I was left cheated and after a while I didn't really care what was going on since it was going to be explained anyway at the end. It didn't really have a overall impact on what was going on. Its way to much all over. Plus at the very end, your introduced to another thing

The one thing that got me intrigued was how Mark Strongs character Lord Blackwood had survived the hanging. That was really the only thing that got me trough the movie. Plot wise that is



Bottom line:
The movie is fun and quick and it pulls most of the mysteries together so that most plot holes are covered before the ending. It got a little to "da vinci code" at times where you got flashbacks to something that would act as a much stronger act device if left alone.

I might be overreacting for a "fun" movie, but the movie is highly forgettable which is really sad. Its a lot of fun and its style is great but it feels nutated and done quick. If at all at least Guy Richie is making movies again.

4/10

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