The Rob Blog

REVIEW OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, aka LETHAL WEAPON

I’ve been greatly enjoying the reviews by some of my friends of the new Guy Ritchie film, Sherlock Holmes.

It is funny to me that such a delightfully fun romp through old England could be despised, but several of my friends and favorite critics have done exactly that. They are entitled to their opinion of course, but I thought I’d take a moment to speak up for those of us who are not so bound to cannon that we can’t have a good time when a good time is to be had.

The first bit of advice I would give someone who is headed out to the theater to enjoy Holmes is this- You are not about to watch a period piece.

It’s true. Your hopes of seeing true Victorian England are not going to materialize…at least not with this film. No my friend, you are in for a much nicer treat…The Buddy Movie.

Yep.

Nothing is quite so wonderful as a good Buddy Film, and Holmes has this in spades.

In fact, if I had to choose a single movie that Sherlock Holmes reminds me of, it would be Lethal Weapon.

Yeah. You heard me.

Lethal Freaking Weapon.

Lethal “Tough as Hell” Weapon.

Lethal “Holy Crap, Mel Gibson will kill you fool” Weapon.
So, instead of writing my own review in full, I have decided to simply take a review of lethal Weapon and post it here, altering only the sections that must be. I will mark my changes in all CAPS. The review is by the greatest film critic of all time…Mr. Roger Ebert.
Lethal Weapon (Sherlock Holmes)

BY ROGER EBERT / March 6, 1987
“SHERLOCK HOLMES” is another one of those Bruised Forearm Movies, like “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” a movie where you and your date grab each other’s arm every four minutes and you walk out black and blue and grinning from ear to ear. It’s a buddy movie about two DETECTIVES who chase a gang of SECRET SOCIETY GUYS all over ENGLAND, and the plot makes an amazing amount of sense, considering that the action hardly ever stops for it.

The DETECTIVES are played by JUDE LAW, as a homebody who has just celebrated his 50th birthday, and ROBERT DOWNEY JR, as a crazed, wild-eyed rebel who has developed a suicidal streak since HE TOOK HIS LAST CASE. In the space of less than 48 hours, they become partners, share a family dinner, kill several people, survive a shootout in ENGLAND, battle with BOATS and machine guns, toss hand grenades, jump off buildings, rescue ROBERT DOWNEY JR’S kidnapped GIRLFRIEND, drive CARTS through walls, endure torture by electric shock, have a few beers and repair the engine on DOWNEY’S boat – not in that order.

The movie’s so tightly wound up, it’s like a rubber band ready to snap. GUY RITCHIE, the director, throws action scenes at us like hardballs, and we don’t know when to duck. All of the elements of this movie have been seen many times before – the chases, the explosions, the hostage negotiations – but this movie illustrates a favorite belief of mine, which is that the subject of a movie is much less important than its style. I’m a guy who is bored by shootouts and chase scenes.

I’ve seen it all. But this movie thrilled me from beginning to end.

Part of that is because I cared about the characters. LAW has had important roles for several years (in movies as different as “Places in the Heart” and “The Color Purple”), but this movie makes him a star. His job is to supply the movie’s center of gravity, while all the nuts and weirdos and victims whirl around him. He’s a family man, concerned about those gray hairs he sees in the mirror, not interested in taking unnecessary chances.

DOWNEY is the perfect counterpoint, with his wild hair, his slob clothing and his emotional misery. It’s a running gag in the movie that DOWNEY is so suicidal he doesn’t care if he lives or dies – and that gives him a definite advantage in showdown situations. That’s what happens in a scene where DOWNEY is up on a rooftop trying to FIGHT WITH A GIANT FRENCHMAN. I won’t spoil the surprise; I’ll just say the movie ends with one of the few genuinely unexpected surprises in any recent action film.

The supporting cast is strong, and has to be, to stand out in the midst of mayhem. MARK STRONG, slimmed down and bright of eye, makes an appropriately hateful killer. And RACHAEL McADAMS, as DOWNEY’S good-looking GIRLFRIEND, is cute when she gets TOUGH IN AN ALLEY. But most of the attention focuses on LAW and DOWNEY, and they work easily together, as if they were having fun, their eccentric personal rhythms supplying a counterpoint to the movie’s roar of violence.

Now about that matter of style. In a sense, a movie like “SHERLOCK HOLMES” isn’t about violence at all. It’s about movement and timing, the choreography of bodies and weapons in time and space. In lesser movies, people stand there and shoot at each other and we’re bored. In a movie with the energy of this one, we’re exhilarated by the sheer freedom of movement; the violence becomes surrealistic and less important than the movie’s underlying energy level. GUY RITCHIE has directed a lot of classy pictures. My favorites are “SNATCH,” and “LOCK STOCK”’ which is still the best. This time he tops himself.”
Thank you, Mr. Ebert…I couldn’t have said it better myself.