Trailer Review: Sherlock Holmes

"This Is Not A Pipe"

I'm down with Sherlock. I used to watch "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" on PBS. I've read the stories. I enjoy the guy. I mean how can you not like Sherlock Holmes? He's a genius with morals, he likes a good mystery, he's plays the violin, he's a brawler and part time drug addict. So when I heard that Guy Ritchie was making a Sherlock Holmes movie starting Robert Downey Jr. my first thought was "That's interesting." But not in a good way.

Well a trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movie came out. Take a look:


What do you think? Here's what I think: Pretty disappointing. It's only a trailer so I don't want to critique the whole movie just based on these couple of minutes of footage. Even though I routinely critique a whole movie based on it's poster (By the way the poster looks straight-to-DVD good) . But as far as this trailer goes, it's pretty disappointing.

I'm not playing a whiny Trekkie here, complaining that it's not true to the original. I liked the idea of Sherlock getting a edgy, stylized makeover. I felt it would actually showcase a side of Holmes that was always there under the surface. Give it an Allan Moore vibe maybe, steam punk it up a bit with a Guy Ritchie swagger. But from what this trailer shows that's not what this movie does.

The movie seems...what's the word...it's on the tip of my tongue...cheesy, cliche, unoriginal, I could go on. Who cares if it's not the same-old-Sherlock-Holmes? I would rather watch "not the same old" than not much of anything at all. How do you set out trying to recreate one of the most recognizable characters in fiction and film and end up with a movie that seems pedestrian? And why is Jude Law Watson? What is with this casting? I really want to know. (I'm sounding like Seinfeld now).

Let's use our imagination for a second. Close your eyes. Let's say this movie didn't have Sherlock Holmes in it, it's Just Robert Downey playing a quirky detective. Ok what do you see? A really lame move? I see it too.