There must be a lot of detective fans, but unfortunately more people watch popcorn movies. A commercial film aimed at mainstream moviegoers can’t go wrong and be on par with a cult film that has a good reputation but no box office. What's more, Guy Ritchie is not Nolan or David Lynch, and he doesn't have the ability to turn corruption into magic. With this realization, any indignant and scolding Sherlock Holmes fans can quickly retreat.
It's the effort to remove the extreme elements that please detective fans that give the film its popcorn quality. Looking at it with an entertainment mentality, this film is like all qualified commercial blockbusters, and there are not many places to criticize it.
The setting is kept as good as the previous work, with a taupe sky, towering chimneys, and classical buildings in cool tones, vividly reproducing the world of the steam age in the early 20th century. Coupled with the introduction of cars and hot weapons in this work, everything is in line with the taste of my steampunk fan, and the picture alone can be said to be pleasing to the eye.
The female characters in the film are once again in a dispensable position, and one has to doubt that this is indeed a purpose to cater to the bad tastes of rotten women. The close-up of Robert Jr.'s lonely expression at Jude Law's wedding, the women's costumes on the train, and the two embracing and dancing at the ball are all hilarious points in the film. Robert Jr. is good for cold humor, as proven in both this film and Iron Man.
This movie has been positioned as an action movie since its predecessor. Therefore, by pulling a few ropes mysteriously, the truth of the suspect is in Robert Jr.'s grasp. The detective process with few reasoning elements is actually a process of alternating singles and group fights, witty action scenes and guns and artillery. The scary thing about Hollywood is that, even if you're already fairly familiar with their routines, it's still quite frustrating to see the expected little orgasms come out on time and without error. This is because our movie-watching moods have been figured out by Hollywood without a secret, or even because we have been taught a fixed movie-watching rhythm by them.
Because this version of Sherlock Holmes is busy playing from beginning to end, all the elements that a fantastic detective has, such as extraordinary intuition, imagination and insight, and even the ability to construct the world, Robert Jr. has no chance to show in the plot. However, these are embedded in his understanding of fighting. Aside from the set, that's another key to my compliments about the film.
In the previous work and this episode, the film used slow motion to show Sherlock Holmes's never-missing nirvana. Robert Jr. quickly went through the upcoming scene in his mind: where to hit the opponent, how to crack his counterattack, and what the consequences would be for him. The virtual scene is presented in slow motion, and the real scene that follows is simply and neatly staged as everything envisioned, giving it a magical and breathtaking feeling. Occasionally, when there are mistakes, unexpected variables appear, and the situation does not develop as he expected. The moment when Holmes shows a little embarrassment, he can also make people smile.
This time Holmes met Professor Moriarty, a criminal with a high IQ. The two were evenly matched. They played blind chess on the abyss. The genius detective and the ultimate villain meet with eyes to know the final outcome. Those who have seen Zhang Yimou's "Heroes" should think of a very similar scene in such scenes of masters.
The action scenes of the slow-motion rehearsal reflect the extraordinary calculation ability of a magical detective, and it is difficult to be regarded as a little bit of Sherlock Holmes. In addition to diehard detective fans, ordinary movie fans will probably not boo too much about this kind of popcorn detective as long as they enjoy watching it.
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