11/12/2009

Guy Ritchie Says He's Making Mainstream 'Sherlock Holmes' To Be Loved Again

"I've spent too much time messing around in inaccessible, esoteric material," Guy Ritchie told Entertainment Weekly (though the actual quotes only seem to be in the magazine) presumably meaning obtuse films like the pseudo-philosophical gangster pic, "Revolver" and the critically loathed, "Swept Away." "I've never had my day in popular court. 'Sherlock Holmes' will allow me to express my accessible side."

Translation: I'm trying to make a popcorn rollercoaster ride so I won't be stuck in Hollywood jail. Cause recent, terribly-photoshopped posters (pictured) and yet another speed-ramping heavy trailer (below, apparently the fourth version now) certainly don't indicate anything other than just peddling closer to the lowest-common denominator, no?


We suppose we appreciate his candor, he's not trying to fool anyone, but maybe he didn't have to go that aggressively hard in the other direction? "Sherlock Holmes" looks positively terrible.

Robert Downey Jr. admits in the issue, his dialogue was fed to him via an ear piece because they were doing up-to-the-minute dialogue re-writes that were tricky for him with the English accent (which by all appearances so far sounds dreadful). "I was wearing an earpiece [to get fed dialogue]. I've tried it since on other movies, but it only works for Holmes because he's not thinking while he's talking. He already knows what he's going to say before he said it."

Not the end of the world, obviously, but just further indication that something was largely off here. This one hits December 25 and some are expecting at least escapist fun, but people were expecting the same from "2012," and look at how reviews are largely roasting that picture to pieces. Just sayin'. But those still holding out hope... we're not so sure about you.

7 comments:

Rabi said...

Ok. I gotta call bullshit on this one. Ritchie's movies were never "esoteric inaccessible" affairs. They were mediocre stories told through the lens of a music video director. The problems his movies have have nothing to with being too abstract. They were just boring.

And, I know this sounds banal, but having RDJr speak with half a hackeny accent is better than having a whole cast speaking Welsh Gaelic. I swear, it took me 5 hours to watch "RocknRolla" because of all the rewinding so I can understand the dialogue. Even Thandie Newton spoke like she had a mouth full of marbles. I love "Snatch" but I refuse to watch it without subtitles.

Ryan said...

Yeah, I think this movie is going to be whack.

Anonymous said...

Yeah just the other night I was watching Swept Away on bluray, as you do, and was thinking that Guy Ritchie's big problem was he was just too highbrow and dare I say it, esoteric.

Gabe Toro said...

I don't think this movie's going to be great shakes, but I am not at all turned off by the trailers. I mean, I took a course on detective fiction back in college and we read lots of Holmes stuff. The action stuff seems a little high octane, but not that far removed from a few of the stories. The antagonism from Watson is a little unusual, but at the same time, Downey and Law remain great actors with unfortunate baggage. Who wouldn't want to see them riff off each other for two hours?

Guy Ritchie gives pause, and the dialogue's a bit dodgy, but the rest of this, so far, looks generally appealing.

goldfarb said...

I'll be watching the Granada series with Jeremy Brett just to get my head above the stench of this film...
I like RDJ and Law, but if Downey Jr had any real friends they would have told him back in '92 that he can't do a non-localized 'British' accent AT ALL...
it gets all whispery...like Liv Tyler in LOTR...
it's embarassing...

Anonymous said...

This looks better than the Pirates films. isn't that at least saying something?

Anonymous said...

"I've spent too much time messing around in inaccessible, esoteric material"

I think I speak for everyone (including Guy Ritchie fans) when I type: LOLOLOLOLOL. Who does he think he is? James Benning? Ritchie is more commercial than Bob Zemeckis and Robert Rodriguez combined. People have just gotten tired of his stupid, glossy schtick.

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