This holiday season had two films that I went to see; Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, and Avatar, directed by James Cameron.
Ritchie has directed several amazing films like Snatch and RocknRolla, and Sherlock Holmes was an interesting choice for him. Starring Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. as Watson and Holmes respectively, this movie is a great look at the Holmes mythos that really hasn’t been touched in a while. One thing that is very clear is that this is no longer just the Holmes who looks at the facts and solves the case from his apartment, but now Holmes is a judo expert who takes the scientific method and hangs himself with it (don’t try that at home). The plot revolves around the escape of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) who Holmes had a big hand in bringing to justice. Blackwood goes about on a crime spree while Holmes’ more direct approach to mystery solving puts him right on his tale. This film is great on its own, but also is filled with plot hooks for sequels, most importantly Proff. Moriarty, who makes an appearance. This action Holmes may be different if you wanted the cool calculating presence from the original novels, but this version makes a solid impression on the Holmes character. Filled with action and humor, I recommend Sherlock Holmes, but be warned this is no Study in Scarlett.
Avatar (not the last Airbender) by James Cameron (director of Titanic) in 3D (where available) is the story of a wheelchair bound ex-marine who gets sent to a hostile planet environment where atmosphere itself is toxic, so that he can run around in an alien hybrid using some fancy super science that was meant for his brother, who died before the story begins but the DNA between is close enough (right?). Avatar is way better than that just sounded. Look past the terribly cliche story of him learning the ways of the People (or Navi, if you will) or the eco-unfriendly bigwig running the place who ignores the research conducted by the brilliant scientist he hired to study the planet (there’s stupid, and then there’s the stupid he gets because the plot demands it) and you get an amazing story of a guy who can’t use his legs, essentially piloting a seven foot tall blue monkey who rides around on dragons and destroys helicopters. This movie is AWESOME.
This film isn’t just all cliche and awesome fight scenes though, it actually surprised me a few times as the overall story is concerned. The main character Jake (Sam Worthington) is of course, not the super scientist his brother was, so the only reason he gets an avatar is because his DNA works with it. The movie has an early tell where the nerdy Joel Moore (Dodgeball, Bones) is of course upset that someone who is not a super scientist gets a free avatar when he spent his post-post graduate studies working towards it. The early animosity between the two actually gets mention later in the film as being resolved; something although trivial, I was really surprised by, since I either expected Joel to take part in betraying Jake somehow, or simply the movie forgetting about it and moving on. Thank you movie, for remembering to tell me what happened to that early plot point.
In comes Stephen Lang (Public Enemies, Gods and Generals) as the real villain, the Colonel in charge of the mercenary unit protecting the humans and harassing everything else on the planet. I may have just been rooting for him the entire time, but that doesn’t stop the fact that he’s a much more believable villain than the brainless CEO he works for. He takes a major part towards the end of the film, bringing the heavy firepower against the primitive tech of the Navi.
Avatar (in 3D or otherwise) is a great looking movie with good writing (if not predictable at times) and definitely a movie to see while its in theaters. It’s a bit long, almost three hours, but still a great chance to see a good quality film. It’s been in the works since ’94, and I recommend giving it a try.
-Minkus
0 Responses to “Movie Reviews: Double Feature”