THE LEGEND HAS LANDED... "SHERLOCK – THE ABOMNIBAL BRIDE"

Well, it’s finally here. And oh boy, where we waiting for it. It has been a whole three years since the last “proper” season of Sherlock after all so like all the fans I pounced on the show the day it emerged blinking onto the TV screen. Oh it was fun. It was exciting and challenging and all the good things we like about the Sherlock shows… So was I content then, did I give it a full thumbs up? Um well… Not quite…

So let’s start at the beginning. The Abominable Bride  seems to be set, for all intents and purposes, in an alternative universe to our modern friend. A sort “how would it go if they were actually Victorian” type deal. And it is a story tinged with a bit of horror no less – supposedly the story of a bride who comes back from the dead to kill, first her own husband but then men who mistreat their wives pretty much everywhere. Naturally, even in Victorian times Holmes is not about to fall for the whole “ghost bride” deal, even if Watson himself is on the verge (but ehem, not quite)of believing the supernatural. But the whole supernatural aspect notwithstanding, there is a lot more to this case than first meets the eye… It may even – God help us – even tax our favourite television detective a tiny bit…

As you all know, I am as bigger fan as the next person of complicated storylines. I have often thrown my toys out of the pram when the story is too simple. But there can be a little too much of a good thing. Especially complications. Now, the storyline set in Victorian times itself, I have no trouble with. Nor do I have issues with the implied supernatural element.  After all  I am a bit of a horror fan (or have become so over the years – psychologists, weigh in lol) and I need to say this episode of Holmes has some quite strong chill credentials. By no means prohibitive for sensitive souls but notable. In a good way.      That’s what we like about the Sherlock series – completely logical and real, yet tooth-grindingly fiendish and very hard to solve without being Holmes (or, you know, a member of the cast with an actual script to hand). Besides if you are watching a whodunit, there needs to be a degree of challenge in answering the question otherwise there really is no point – take it from someone who spends an embarrassingly large chunk of her life on whodunits.

Ok, herein begin to lie spoilers so take head. Moving on, I could even buy the whole “first level” of tying in with the modern Sherlock. You know, it was all a mental exercise all along. And the whole episode ends with some very interesting crumbs dropped about the coming season so you know, good job on whetting our whistles. The bit where it does not work for me is when Holmes basically suddenly becomes able to travel into his “mind palace” at will, have long and entertaining chats with himself. In fact, his subconscious mind is so complicated and so developed that it can set him puzzles his conscious mind has trouble solving. Though of course logic sort of dictates that he SHOULD be able to solve it by definition – it is after all a puzzle he himself created. It’s a very interesting case of split personality if he couldn’t. It sort of mirrors the film Inception. And at a push it could have been argued away by saying “Oh well, you always knew his mind was different”. And I will concede to the fact that it basically is a prolongation of lucid dreaming. But I don’t know… I almost feel as if they have tried to show us how the goose that lays the golden eggs works. But in (proverbially) cutting Holmes open, they have slightly undone themselves…

I think part of the appeal of Sherlock has always been that it ultimately makes sense. You know it may well be nigh on impossible to actually happen but it sort of could. It’s not “magic”. Nor is it “mumbo jumbo computery stuff that sounds clever but actually means nothing”. It was always ever, quite simply, an almost completely (but not quite) unbelievable mind. And I am not saying that you should leave everything to faith to be oh so mysterious – especially not in our modern times. My argument is that IF you are going to try to explain any key concept of a series to death, you need to have a solid game plan going for you. Especially when talking about concepts like logic and the mind – because if you don’t get those arguments to make sense, there is a danger that you, ironically enough, seem to be unable to make sense of what is basically heightened common sense. There was absolutely no need for complicated party tricks methinks. We could just as well have left it to be inexplicable. In its current state, it have worked better.

Hopefully this was just a party trick for Christmas and we won’t have prolonged stays in Holmes’ mind palace in the upcoming season. I have a feeling we will be back to business as usual when the time comes though. After all, this is sort of what the first of January is all about no… A sort of netherworld between the new year and the old one when you sort of loll around on the couch, try and get your act together and mentally prepare for the year to come. I’m sure they will do better on the “real thing”.

A LEGEND LOOKING BACK ON A LEGEND, AS PORTAYED BY A LEGEND... "MR HOLMES"

It’s always a risk to meet celebrities and personal heroes in real life, isn’t it? Who knows what they are like in real life, their public persona is, after all, there to please. In real life, well, they can get away with pleasing a lot fewer people, let’s put it that way. And there you have it, dreams destroyed in instants.

And boy oh boy wouldn’t the long suffering Mrs Munro (Academy Award nominee Laura Linney) know it… She and her little boy Roger (Milo parker) are housekeepers to the famous detective Sherlock Holmes (Sir Ian McKellan). You would think this was an honour, an adventure and a thing to be proud of. The problem is though, that Holmes in real life (unlike his legend) is getting old and he is doing it with very bad grace indeed. He is battling the first stages of dementia, which makes his personal torture double because he is also looking back on his life wracked with regret, regret concerning a particular case that really didn’t go Holmes’ way… The problem is, Holmes can’t exactly remember what happened. And for this reason he can’t figure out if there is a way back from this tragedy… His only source of joy is Roger, a bright and talented boy who adores Holmes. However Roger is only nine and his mother does not approve of this unlikely friendship so his assistance may well be too little too late…

  

I loved this film for so many reasons. First up, amusingly enough, Holmes himself contemplates the legend of Holmes and frankly finds lacking a lot. And quite a few bits added on. It’s a wonderful reflexion on celebrity and the legend created around the famous. It is almost as if celebrities aren’t allowed to be human beings with the occasional bad day and bad mood. More importantly they don’t always have control over what the public imagine them to be and therefore by default “become” something or someone they can barely recognize themselves. Consider the case of Mr Holmes then, who on top of all of that is now also suffering from dementia and having to struggle with his own demons. Or if you would prefer, consider any other star that has to cope with pleasing the public with their performances on stage and off while fighting big and scary personal demons. Think Amy Winehouse or Kurt Cobain…   Sure Mr Holmes spells out the same message in the safety of a nice little whitewashed cottage on the coast, but it is basically the same story and it ain’t pretty…  

On top of all of that, Mr Holmes is an unflinching gaze directed at old age. The skill of Ian McKellan is truly extraordinary as he portrays, in turn, a greying but still very much on form Sherlock Holmes on his last case and contrasts it quite beautifully to the frail old man desperately trying to hold onto his memories, his sanity but maybe most importantly his former self.  As I watched McKellan I couldn’t help but think that it couldn’t have been an easy part to play, not least because he himself is 76 years old. Although he is on top form in the film (and in real life as far as we can tell!) one cannot help but wonder if at times he felt that portraying this aging celebrity looking back at his life and his public persona cut a little too close to home. But then again, this is what it takes to be a truly great actor. You cannot worry about “looking good” if you want to do the part justice. You can only go straight forward, warts and all, and this is what creates performances like McKellen’s where we feel truly sorry for Holmes and feel  - perhaps for the first time – that he has become a real person.

I actually love this last point too. Think for example of Holmes’ more famous modern incarnation in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch. A combination of modern technology and latest fashions means that Holmes is more like a superhero than anything else. Except that his superpowers are quite “human” and even though they are definitely improbable in real life, they are definitely not impossible. In short, the ideal kind of superhero for our disenchanted times… Now we finally see Holmes with the mask off – as it were. And even Holmes (McKellen) cracks a giggle as he watches the “legend of Holmes” in the cinema. There is something wonderfully self-reflexive about this latest addition to the canon of Holmes reenactments watching itself on a (albeit fictional) cinema screen. But I guess this Holmes is slightly different. Just as Cumberbach’s Holmes is a superhero without “super” powers, a more realistic Holmes would not be completely invincible. Old age and death come to us all after all, and Homes’ ultimate battle with his greatest nemesis – dementia – is one that all of us can sympathize with on some level.

For all that though, Mr Holmes is very much an upbeat film. I recommended it to my grandmother and mother, and both are particularly partial to “happy” films. Yes it is melancholy and thought provoking in places, but the friendship between Roger and Holmes – with Roger potentially taking the baton from Holmes in some unseen future – is a sight to behold.    

THE (BRIEF) RETURN OF MY FAVOURTE SUPERHERO : "SHERLOCK SEASON 3"

Two years. We have been waiting for two blessed years. They knew we’d wait. They knew we’d “do the time” so they took their own sweet time planning practising and filming. But oh… Oh what an end result. The one thing that really frustrates me about this series is that how quickly it’s all over. I mean, especially for me, because I waited for the whole series to be finished (skilfully avoiding any spoilers pertaining to the finale) and “marathoned” the whole series in a day (at the time this article was written it was still available on BBC I-player for UK residents).  And now… Well I have to wait for another two years I guess… Which reminds me, I should really check if there are any clues circulating as to when the next series will be broadcast…  But anyhow. Before we turn our eyes to the future, let us dwell on the recent past. What did we make of season 3?

So, the first thing we find out – I’m sure it’s not a spoiler at this point – is that Sherlock Holmes is alive. The cynics among us will mumble something about “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs”. We can’t actually say that this is unfair. That said, we all need a superhero of some sort in our lives (and those claiming that “no, we don’t” are actually in denial). Now, some superheroes are, you know, your average superhero:  Handsome, inherently good, superpowers, saving the world, all that malarkey. Others are well adjusted sociopaths with off-the chart IQs and very poor interpersonal skills. My kind of superhero tends to be the latter. And that says something or other about my subconscious or my childhood but let’s not go there now. Anyway, long story short, superheroes never die. So  Sherlock is back. And he is mildly surprised that actually, life has gone on without him. But once both Sherlock and Watson have got over the shock; there is work to be done; there is serious evil afoot in London. Which is basically why Mycroft had him shipped back to London, I mean, why else would he bother, right?

Basically, what can I say? The series exceeds itself once again in my view. And we have the classic Sherlock tropes running through the tale. In the second series it was Sherlock’s death in a face-off with Moriarty. Ok, there were no waterfalls involved but they are in rather short supply in London. This time round its Watson’s wedding. Now, hand on heart, I was a bit worried about that. I mean, injecting a bit of comedy into an otherwise rather dark and cryptic series is well and good, not to mention necessary, but still. You don’t want it made into a laughing stock. I was, I need to confess especially worried about the wedding episode. I mean ok, for those who haven’t watched yet, one of the three episodes actually takes place at Dr Watson’s wedding. It starts off looking as if it’s going to be one of those epic failures when a very serious series tries to be a comedy for one episode and fails miserably. It’s just a smoke-screen, trust me. Just trust me. Trust Sherlock.

And the finale… Oh my goodness. I don’t want to give you too many details. You know that the whole point of this series is the surprise factor. But there is a truly odious arch-villain that will try Sherlock in ways he has never been tried yet. And you better watch all three episodes very, very closely. Because there is a point in the third episode where you are going to have to trace your way back to little bread crumbs dropped in the first episode. I mean, obviously the series does it for you complete with flashbacks but you know… Just so you know… There is a massive bigger picture. And more than one plot-twist.

All that not enough to tickle your fancy? How about  if I told you we meet Sherlock’s parents? That we get a glimpse at his and Mycroft’s early childhood? What if I told you that, for one split second, we actually see his inner sociopath face to face? I’m telling you… This season is good.

The one thing that might get you slightly is that they do a wonderful, emotionally charged finale. You’re left  with literal tears streaming down your face… Only to find, minutes before the end credits roll down, that they haven’t even waited for the next season to conjure up Sherlock’s “miracle return”. I found it destroyed the flow of the piece slightly but then again… I mean come on. We knew he’d be back. Call it golden eggs, call it superheroes… I guess it was pointless to pretend he was gone for good – because emotionally charged as the finale is, at the end of the day, none of us is really going to “believe” it, are we? So you might as well use the opportunity to give us a taster of what is coming next. And incidentally, judging purely by the little breadcrumb dropped, I’m very curious as to how they are going to “pull that one off”. Oh well. We just have to wait another two years or something to find out… 

LET THE BATTLE OF THE TITANS COMMENCE : "SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS"

I have been waiting for this film for SO long. I love the new take on Sherlock Holmes. To be absolutely honest, I believe I do prefer the Benedict Cumberbach version of him better though. You know, the series. Are they doing any more of those by the way? If yes, when? I definitely should check on that. But in the meanwhile, let us return to the film in hand. Now, before, Holmes was the epitome of the old-fashioned hero. Strong, manly, spoke little, went straight to the point when he did and was a complete gentleman in all other ways besides. This Holmes is a brilliant mind and a brilliant detective, however also childish, selfish and possible manic-depressive. I also love the new Watson, who has his own character and personality (albeit he finds it hard to assert them when Holmes is around – but this is understandable). Gone is the bumbling doctor, whose main duty in life was to ask dumb questions at the right time so the reader could grasp the intricacies of the plot. This Watson (especially since he happens to have the body of Jude Law), is a force to be reckoned with.

And Holmes simply cannot do without him.  Watson finds this out much to his distress after his wedding, because even on their honeymoon, Holmes cannot seem to leave them alone.  Not only does he burst in on them, oh no, he brings a foray of disaster and assassins with him. This, however, may be a slightly unfair on Holmes. Not least because he is not so much pestering Watson as saving his life and the life of his bride. The reason they have assassins after them however is because Holmes has finally met his match:  An arch-villain whose intellect and genius may well actually match up to that of Holmes, Professor James Moriarty. And Watson just happens to be Holmes’ Achilles heel.  Moriarty’s aim however, reaches far beyond messing with Holmes and Watson. He has his sights set on the control of all of Europe, possibly the entire world. And Holmes is the only person capable of figuring out that he is behind all these machinations, much less stop him…

I love this series. So much so that even though a purist would say that Holmes should die and stay dead after his fight with Moriarty (oh come on. You knew that. I cannot believe you haven’t actually read the books. Shame on you.  No, really.) Anyway, the point is, I don’t care. You may have figured out by now, I am a sucker for anyone and anything that makes me laugh. Robert Downey Jr. is hilarious. I’m talking belly laughs, clapping and stomping on the floor. His interaction with Watson is perfect (as I outlined a tad in the first paragraph). The action sequences and effects are both spectacular and exciting. And the storyline is both complex and imaginative, just as a Holmes – Moriarty story should be. Oh and if you think about it, you could argue it asks serious political questions about things going on behind the scenes in any given conflict. But it is so well done; you don’t necessarily need to think about it, if you see what I mean. It’s there if you want to. Very unobtrusive yet fully there. Yet, if you just want to watch a funny and brilliant movie and not “think” about anything in particular, well you can do that too. It all depends on what you want from your evening’s entertainment – and this baby pretty much has everything you could need…