For those who haven't seen it or aware of the movie (which I doubt) then here is my CMAQUEST feature on the Sherlock Holmes Movie.
I grew fund of the various exploits of the 221 B Baker Street sleuth back in my high school days which all started on a novel reading project we had. Eversince I have tried looking for more of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective but failed back then because of the lack of resource and time to do so. Fast forward to 2009, I have finally got the complete Unabridged Audio Book of Sherlock Holmes which I listened to with utmost interest. Even when I was in the Let's Go Sago Anniversary Surfing Clinic (which I stilled haven't completely finished posting) I made it to a point to bring it with me. So hearing upon the movie as it was curretly on shooting made me ecstatic and the movie set to be released by December made me shout for A'Last! Sadly the showing here in the Philippines got moved from December 2009 to January 2010 to give way for the annual Metro Manila Film Festival bbut that's alright. I promised myself that by hook or by crook I will definitely see it on the big screen.
The movie does not start off with the introduction of the characters for it would definitely eat much more time than Avatar or lord of the rings. The movie assumes that the movie goer already had the basic knowledge of how the dynamic duo of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson came to be. But even so, the movie didn't fail to explain the extent of the friendship of the two.
It also feature Irene "The Woman" Adler, the only woman who outwitted Sherlock Holmes in the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' - The Bohemian Scandal case. The movie played with the idea that Sherlock Holmes had the deepest admiration to Ms. Adler and portrayed it as a love tandem. Adler was also seen talking to some more devious and evil villain in the shadows. A highly effective foreshadowing method to make a sequel for the film.
I liked how the movie applied the "prognosis approach" of Sherlock Holmes on dealing with certain situations on the film. I usually find myself laughing at how Holmes talks to Watson and Lestrade. Lestrade is usually portrayed in the novel as the usual clueless yet proud detective who ends up asking the aid of Holmes which was also seen in the movie. I believe Lestrade finally pull a good one on Holmes as an unexpected blow was delivered to the seized detective. I still don't know if that was part of the act or there was a little Lestrade grudge going there but it all went out great. Moriarty was also seen in the shadows as he plays a hand in the progress of the story, and all roads eventually lead towards him as the main villain in the sequel of the film which is now currently in production. Dr. Moriarty is the first real arch-enemy/nemesis type who can go hand-in-hand with Sherlock Holmes as depicted in the novel. So the Sherlock Holmes movie bridges the events which happened before the final showdown of the two rivals which resulted in the "death" of Sherlock Holmes.
So there you have it my spoiler free movie review and some possible predictions of the upcoming sequel. I also liked the upcoming movies shown before the film. It was a good 20 minutes showing some of the great movies lined up for this or the first half of the year.
