Well, if I am to expand, I have three major areas of contention.
The most overwhelming is, as noted, Holmes' sheer unlikeability. I give Cumberbatch a lot of credit for playing it well, but I never felt like this was a hero I wanted to spend any time with. It's not the first time I've seen that - TBH, Bruce Wayne in the batsuit can be just as much of a jerk but only in print - and it's not the first time I have been unsatisfied. Even Monk, a show I liked, tended to shove me away in a similar fashion.
I also was very put off by the visualizations of how Holmes' mind works. He tells us what he found anyway, so it struck me as unnecessary as well. (I didn't quite care for similar tricks in the recent film, either.)
Lastly, once Holmes chose to go with the cabbie and be all cryptic-crazy, the story lost me. It was true to the character as written but not very believable. It worked for me only insofar as it did give us lots of good stuff with Watson. And Martin Freeman, whatever else, was amazing.
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branchandroot
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Date: Jan. 16th, 2011 04:30 pm (UTC)The most overwhelming is, as noted, Holmes' sheer unlikeability. I give Cumberbatch a lot of credit for playing it well, but I never felt like this was a hero I wanted to spend any time with. It's not the first time I've seen that - TBH, Bruce Wayne in the batsuit can be just as much of a jerk but only in print - and it's not the first time I have been unsatisfied. Even Monk, a show I liked, tended to shove me away in a similar fashion.
I also was very put off by the visualizations of how Holmes' mind works. He tells us what he found anyway, so it struck me as unnecessary as well. (I didn't quite care for similar tricks in the recent film, either.)
Lastly, once Holmes chose to go with the cabbie and be all cryptic-crazy, the story lost me. It was true to the character as written but not very believable. It worked for me only insofar as it did give us lots of good stuff with Watson. And Martin Freeman, whatever else, was amazing.