The Right Way To Update Sherlock Holmes

I really disliked the Guy Ritchie "Sherlock Holmes" movie from last year, which was trying to turn Holmes into something more like a modern-day action hero. So when I heard about a new adaptation of the legendary character I was concerned. The plan for "Sherlock," airing on PBS' "Masterpiece Mystery!" series, was to not just make Holmes and Dr. Watson seem more modern, but to actually bring the characters into the present day. And not by being cryogenically frozen, either. I was very skeptical, but still curious.

The new Holmes and Watson

So tonight, instead of being bored and disgusted by election coverage, I fired up the old DVR and watched the first two (of three) episodes. While not everything is the same -- the deerstalker cap is long gone, as it was in the Ritchie movie, and instead of Holmes' exclamation that "the game is afoot," here he says, "The game is on!" -- the famous address of 221B Baker Street is still their residence, and Mrs. Hudson is still their landlady.

In the first episode, we learn that Watson (Martin Freeman) was wounded in Afghanistan, is shipped back home and is having trouble readjusting to civilian life. He wants to live in London but can't afford decent accomodations; an old colleague introduces him to Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), who is very much a fan of texting and has his own website, "The Science of Deduction," and he quickly gets Watson involved as he is asked by Detective Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard for assistance in investigating a series of deaths that appear to be suicides.

The chemistry between the two leads is lots of fun, with quite a few allusions to the oft-speculated idea that Holmes and Watson are lovers. And the manner in which Holmes makes his deductions is visually striking. This is the fast-paced, energetic but still incredibly brilliant Holmes that Guy Ritchie didn't quite achieve with Robert Downey, Jr.

There's one more episode on PBS this Sunday, but if you didn't see the first two you can catch up online for the next month.

Quick Reviews: The End-Of-Year Clearance

Last week I went to movies on four consecutive days. I'm pretty sure I've never done that before. I certainly haven't done it during the post-Christmas week, when theaters do major business thanks to people being off work and school.

I started off Monday with It's Complicated. Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin have great chemistry as a divorced couple who, on the occasion of their son's college graduation, find themselves in bed together and begin an affair. Problem: he remarried and she has another man (Steve Martin) who's into her. Particularly charming is "The Office" star John Krasinski as the future husband of Streep and Baldwin's oldest daughter. Much has been made of Baldwin's nude scene. It's not that horrendous, and it's not even him at any rate -- it's a stunt butt. Yes, he's older and gained weight, but Alec Baldwin is still rather irresistible. But let's remember him as he was (at left). My grade: A-minus.

Tuesday, in part because I got to the theater so early I didn't want to wait for what I planned to see, found me at Did You Hear About The Morgans? For a while I was wishing I hadn't heard about them. Unlike Streep and Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant are not a good match as the titular couple, successful New Yorkers who are separated because he cheated on her. Trying to win her back, he takes her to dinner. They witness a murder, are taken into protective custody and are whisked away to a small town in Wyoming. Oddly enough, I went to the restroom mid-way through and when I returned, for some reason I disliked it less. My grade: C-minus.

On Wednesday it was A Single Man, starring Colin Firth as a college professor, an older gay man mourning the recent death of his longtime lover (Matthew Goode, seen in flashbacks). It's 1962, well before the Stonewall riots set off a major push for gay rights, so things are much more difficult for him. Firth is excellent, as is Julianne Moore as his best friend who wants to be more than just friends. It's directed by fashion designer Tom Ford and, especially at the beginning, it looked too much like a fashion show or a perfume commercial with a lot of slick editing. Ultimately, the film as a whole was a little lacking, and the ending was hinted at much earlier. My grade: B-minus.

Which brings us, finally, to Sherlock Holmes. Guy Ritchie reimagines the legendary creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as an action hero in a buddy comedy starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson. The flaws in this movie aren't in the acting but in the plot (about a villain who is executed but manages to come back to life and takes over a secret society with plans to overthrow the British government and eventually restore America to the British Empire) and especially the characterization. Holmes is still a brilliant detective, but he's also often boorish. Holmes and Watson spend most of the film bickering. Rachel McAdams is wasted as Irene Adler, the only person to ever outwit Holmes, here merely a plot device to set up the inevitable sequel. I can understand trying to make Sherlock Holmes more palatable to a modern audience, but Guy Ritchie botches the job. My grade: D-plus.