Movie Reaction: Sherlock Holmes

[fleete]

Whoa.  So.  Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is officially the slashiest shit I have ever seen in a movie theater bar none.


Things that were great:

• The writers and producers and directors and so forth who got up in the morning and said, "You know what?  That first movie was not really gay enough.  We should do something about that."  And then they did, and they didn't shy away from it, and they made a movie whose main subplot was a romantic friendship between two male Victorian action heroes.  I was sitting there sort of wide-eyed at certain moments, because this was not unintentional homoeroticism or even subtextual romance.  So yeah.  Well done, guys.  
• I did, however, have to cover my face a little at the part with the wrestling where Holmes is naked from the waist up, wearing lipstick, and actually has his legs wrapped around Watson's waist.  YES REALLY.  WHAT.  I was sitting next to my mother feeling like I was reading slash porn. :|
• STEVEN FRY IS MYCROFT, AND MYCROFT IS CANONICALLY, MAIN-TEXTUALLY GAY.  LIKE, FOR REAL.  It made me so happy.  He doesn't get to do or say a whole lot, but every time he came on screen, I wanted to wave and say, "Hello!  Hello, Steven Fry!  How are you so great??"
• Moriarty.  Was creepy and cool, and we had no sense whatsoever of his motives, but I didn't even care, especially at the very end of the final scene between him and Holmes.  Am I the only person who came away from that scene wanting angry Moriarty/Holmes slash?
• Mary, who is awesome in every scene she's in, and who has a line at the end that implies a Holmes/Mary/Watson OT3.  She's wonderful.  I adore her.

Things that were not as good:

• Limited screen time and development of female characters.  Irene and Mary are both there and badass, but get very limited screentime.  It made me sad.  And then there's a gypsy woman whose name I didn't catch who got a LOT of screentime, but not much personality.  Like, at all.  She was sympathetic, but not three dimensional or interesting, and I'm like: YOU HAVE TWO OTHER AWESOME FEMALE CHARACTERS WHY ARE THEY NOT ON SCREEN ALL THE TIME???  Blaaaah.  I was also not a fan of Irene's story line, which I won't spoil, but which ended up falling into a major plot stereotype for female characters.  Thumbs down.
• Not quite as good writing as the first movie.  The dialogue is not at the same level as the other movie, and a few speeches are just plain over-the-top.  But there was still enough zing that I enjoyed the movie.
• This is not really a detective movie.  This is a straight up action adventure movie with a detective as a protagonist.  I like action movies, of course, but I do feel like we're getting even farther from the original Sherlock Holmes' bread and butter.

So overall?  This was not as good a movie as the first, but it's basically a big long slash fic.  An enjoyable way to spend an evening.

ETA: So Holmes leaves Watson the note saying, basically, "Come, if convenient.  If inconvenient, come anyway."  I recognized this line because Sherlock BBC uses almost that exact line in the first episode.  Is this a Doyle line that they're both picking up?  Anybody know?

Comments

[analise010.livejournal.com]

First off, where is my fandom list? Jk, I'm glad you said that Gane of Shadows was purely action with a protagonist detective because I couldn't find any plot in the commercials and wondered if any existed. The lack of female character development is sad, if not a little expected. However, I will pay money to see the slash (or maybe be illegal and watch it at home with my friends).

[fleete.livejournal.com]

*grin* Okay, okay. I'm working on posting the fandom list right now.

And as for SH, I definitely don't regret spending my money on it. It was an excellent romp, and Robert Downey Junior was as charismatic as always. See it!!