Guy Ritchie performed career-resuscitation with RocknRolla last year, it seems. How else do you explain the fact he's been handed the reigns of another "revamp", following Batman and Star Trek? But this one is a hell of a lot stuffier: Sherlock Holmes.
Apparently based on an as-yet-unpublished graphic novel, the movie hopes to invigorate the iconic sleuth by ramping up the action, explosions, bare-knuckle fights and broad comedy. It stars Robert Downey Jr as the eponymous detective, with a moustachiod Jude Law as his trusted sidekick Dr. Watson, the gorgeous Rachel McAdams as a corset-wearing love-interest (I guess they're ignoring the homoerotic Holmes/Watson overtones) and the excellent Mark Strong as the villain.
From the look of the two-minute trailer above, it certainly looks like a fun and spirited action-adventure. It may do for period detective mysteries what Pirates Of The Caribbean did for nautical adventures. Is it just coincidence that a handsome American gets to affect an English accent and tear-up the screen in both films? I think not. Sherlock Holmes will likely annoy the fanbase of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's best-selling creation -- with its kinetic editing, stylized fight sequences (slow-motion face punches!), the "popcorn movie" veneer, and absence of a deerstalker and pipe.
I can see this being a big Christmas hit, though -- if only because of the title character's continuing popularity and Downey Jr coming off Iron Man. But, the fact remains that trailers are always deceptive things and Guy Ritchie doesn't have a great track-record (especially if you discount the gangster flicks that made his name.) Has he only succeeded in bringing superficial glossiness to a script that just trades on the Sherlock name for light, 19th-century hijinks? I guess we'll have to wait and see...
Released: 25 December 2009 (US) | 26 December 2009 (UK/AUS)
HD Download: 480P (45MB) | 720P (113MB) | 1080P (163MB)
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file "whatever.mov" and double-click.
file "whatever.mov" and double-click.
