Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

[sasha_feather]

After thinking it over for a few days, I figured out what I didn't like about Sherlock Holmes #2.



The tone of the film was uneven: at times serious, sad, dramatic, but mostly farcical, and I was not expecting a farce.

Near the beginning of the film, Holmes is revealed wearing some "urban camoflage" that makes him blend into the wall of his home, so that Watson can't find him. He looks ridiculous in this outfit, and it reminded me of nothing so much as the Pink Panther:



Here Steve Martin wears a similar outfit, which blends into some wallpaper, for his own farcical detective movie.

Several other scenes struck this same tone: Holmes riding a miniature horse-- unrealistic, and a way that seems we are meant to laugh at him for being afraid of horses. Wearing drag, because he makes an unattractive woman-- again, it felt like I was meant to laugh at him (although as a slash fan I am capable of reading this scene a different way; it also seemed like a great genius like Holmes should be able to come up with a better costume? I felt the same way about the Chinese costume in the first scene--it seemed amateurish somehow).

This whole "object of ridicule" feeling for Holmes did not seem in keeping with the tortured genius detective character that I was expecting from the first film and from the general canon, and it threw me out of the movie.

The bright spots of the film were the secondary characters: Mary Watson and Sizma being BAMFs, and Mycroft Holmes being amusing and queer. I also liked the effects and the set pieces. Irene Adler's death seemed completely unnecessary.

Overall, I was expecting more Great Detective and less Pink Panther, and so this movie was a disappointment. I probably won't watch it again.

Comments

[giandujakiss]

Yeah, I didn't bother posting but I was also disappointed. I felt a lot of the humor was pure farce - it didn't come from the characters, it came from just being bizarre and random for no reason, which I find less funny generally and not at all funny when it's a source where I'm engaged with the characters. Also, apparently I'm just out of step with fandom because I found it way less slashy than the first movie, or at least, less slashy in an appealing way. I liked the first movie because we really saw how Holmes and Watson related to each other and enjoyed each other's company. That was absent here - the movie went for even more action, and wink-wink jokes, but didn't show the actual relationship itself the way the first movie did.

[sasha_feather]

Yes, exactly! The characters were less believable, and spent less time interacting with each other in meaningful ways. The writing just wasn't good. The mystery didn't hang together well either! I like action but would prefer it in combination with good writing and good characters.

[kalmn]

I don't believe she's dead. La la la la I can't heeeeeear you.

Also, the ending gave me Buffy s5 flashbacks.

[sasha_feather]

That's true, she's probably not dead! This is the movies after all.

How did it remind you of Buffy?

[kalmn]

sadly, if she's not dead, she's probably in a refrigerator somewhere. piffle.

s5 buffy, the season finale, had buffy nobly sacrificing herself to save the world. really. it wasn't that she was suicidal and looking for an excuse at all. nope. not even one bit. [rolls eyes]

so the whole "i must kill myself along with moriarty because it is the only way to save those i love" made me pretty eyerolly.

[sasha_feather]

Ahhhhh, that makes sense!

[torachan]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but the drag scene in the trailer made me cringe for just those reasons. Both Sherlock Holmes and whatever professional makeup artist(s) they hired for this film should be capable of making RDJ look more believable as a woman. Holmes is supposed to have these fantastic disguise skills, so why would he deliberately make himself up as a caricature? It makes no sense storywise or characterwise. They did it because "haha man in a dress, isn't it funny to laugh at him?" but while some people might find it funny, it doesn't work in the story. (And that sort of "let's all laugh at the man in the dress" humor always has an air of transphobia about it.)

[sasha_feather]

Right! Exactly! I'm sure that RDJ is capable of looking really good in drag, and in the story he's supposed to be blending in, to be invisible. This is one movie where I am just not at all on the same page as the rest of fandom...