Action Holmes

I love to blog about things that I've enjoyed, because what better way to show appreciation and pass the goodness to others who might enjoy it too? I also love to blog about things that I intensely dislike, I'll admit – I absolutely adore the creative challenge of expressing my disapproval in the sharpest, yet most elegant manner possible. (My readers may have noticed that I had way too much fun reviewing the novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra.)

So what is it like to blog about things that... just don't evoke any emotions, positive or negative? I'll tell you, and I'm probably not alone with this opinion: it's an absolute, brain-freezing writer's block. And that's exactly the reaction I get out of the two recent Sherlock Holmes films directed by Guy Ritchie, so bear with me when I try to "make bricks without clay", as the great detective himself might have said. This post has been in the draft stage for ages.

Anyone who has paid the least bit of attention to current trends in the entertainment world will know that we are living in a fairly recent but extremely productive wave of Sherlock Holmes zeal. We now have two modern interpretations of Mr Holmes sleuthing away on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and an older version played by Sir Ian McKellen to look forward to next year. However, the first notable take on Holmes' adventures on the 21st century screen was the big-budget blockbuster Sherlock Holmes of 2009, directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson. A sequel, A Game of Shadows, soon followed, and we might expect a trilogy-fication to this franchise some day.

I saw the first film before reading any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works, but it was quite interesting to see that when I did read a couple of those books and short stories and then watched both films, it didn't really affect how I viewed them. The experience was equally non-plussing both times!

Most people whose reviews I've read seem to find A Game of Shadows an improvement from Sherlock Holmes – I disagree. For me, the first film was a generally bland experience with a couple of good things going for it, and the sequel was just unremarkable in every respect. Let me explain why.

The main characters are, of course, the same in both films: Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law respectively. Well, even before I'd read any of the original stories which would have provided me with expectations as to what Sherlock Holmes was "supposed to be like", I wasn't really buying Downey Jr. as Holmes. I would assume that even a person who knows nothing about this character would expect to see someone very British with a remarkable skill of observation, and Downey Jr. doesn't really deliver any of this. My main issue is not the fact that these films have re-imagined the character as more action-oriented and physically capable – I was just confused that they so absolutely under-used Holmes' celebrated intellect! The only scenes where I can truly remember him being the smartest person in the crowd was the boxing scene in the first film where he predicts his opponent's moves, and the final confrontation with Moriarty in A Game of Shadows which is a little too similar, except that Moriarty can do the same trick as well. Does nobody else find it weird that in the first film, instead of using his deductive powers to figure out what happened, he does some psycho pentagram-and-drugs ritual and apparently finds the solution in... I don't know, some drug-induced higher consciousness? Doesn't that kind of go against the very essence of what makes the character of Sherlock Holmes so special?

Now I do admit that I am very partial to Jude Law. I actually like it very much that Dr Watson in these films is close to Holmes' equal in terms of age and useful skills – instead of the cuddly older man he's usually portrayed as, or a Nigel Bruce dunderhead for goodness' sake. Until Sherlock came up and gave us the gift of Martin Freeman's Watson, I think this kind of an approach was quite unique in Holmesian adaptations. Downey Jr. and Law also work really well together, even when their exploits are a bit too messy and over-the-top for my liking. Of course the boys are allowed to have fun and be bros on their adventures, but these films generate suspense out of the numerous, massively special-effectful action sequences rather than the mystery of the case at hand. This is especially apparent in A Game of Shadows where we get the interminably long train ride which includes a clown-makeup-wearing Holmes, and a likewise interminable chase through the woods which seems to take especially long because of all the slow-mo.

Both of the films have their sinister villain and their obligatory filler female character, and I think the first film has the better one in both departments. While I'm not entirely convinced that a society of dark magic works especially well as a villain entity against Sherlock Holmes, Mark Strong's Lord Blackwood makes my blood freeze. In A Game of Shadows we're then given Professor Moriarty – Holmes' The Enemy – and I couldn't figure out why I was expected to be especially apprehensive or impressed about the character Jared Harris was playing. In the best hero/villain constructions, I find that the opponents often have some vital element in common which is a source of attraction as well as disdain for them both  – the more subtle the mirror effect is the better, but it's definitely there. However, this film's Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty don't have much anything in common, no reason at all why they would share this kind of a bond.

As for the obligatory filler women in both films – yes, I'm going to call them that. They seem to exist for the sole purpose of avoiding criticism about a male-heavy cast, and the plot would very well survive without them. Irene Adler is better served in the first film in terms of "getting to do stuff", but the character is both unremarkably portrayed by Rachel McAdams and written in the most unimaginative manner possible – she's Holmes' ex-girlfriend. Even before I read A Scandal in Bohemia, this treatment had a suspicious "easy way out" feel about it. In A Game of Shadows, the female lead is taken over by Noomi Rapace, and I want to make sure you know she's actually a very impressive actress. However, as Madame Simza her main function is to say a couple of Gypsy-stereotypical lines about the power of Tarot cards and have a problematic brother. I love her costumes, though. Kelly Reilly's Mary Morstan Watson, who appears on both films, has no personality at all, except perhaps a slightly annoying one. However, I was positively surprised at how she was involved in the resolution for A Game of Shadows. These films are never abundant in exquisitely clever plot twists, but that one at least came close.

In both of these films, I like the music and the production design very much. Hans Zimmer's music is very atmospheric and suspenseful, with a feeling of adventure and mystery. I find myself quite immersed in the Victorian setting, which is a bit dark and gritty and includes other layers of society besides top hatted gentlemen and hoop-skirted ladies. There is so much more to this long era in English history than Victorian values and a perpetually mourning queen; for example, great technological advancement, which is handled in both films. Of course, a World War geek like me would get excited about the WWI foreshadowing in A Game of Shadows, even though I spent the rest of the film battling with my attention span.

I just don't see why the solution for marketing Holmes and Watson to a new generation would have to be "make Sherlock Holmes an ungroomed, badass action hero and blow stuff up". Why does the Great Detective have to be dumbed down? Why do we need elaborate action sequences at the cost of a well-balanced, properly contained plot? The steadily expanding part of my brain that is possessed by the "nitpicker of dramatic structure" personality is especially peeved by the fact that Holmes fake-dies twice in A Game of Shadows, twice in the space of one movie which frankly isn't otherwise very interested in providing emotional, character-building moments! Then we have to watch Dr Watson being devastated over the loss of his friend, twice, knowing perfectly well that Holmes is going to jump back up any minute. Lord Blackwood's fake death in the first film has much more weight and purpose to it, and when he dies for real it happens on an awesome, half-constructed Tower Bridge. Have I told you before that my love affair with London began from seeing a picture of Tower Bridge?

So, I hope I've provided something of an explanation to why I find Guy Ritchie's take on Sherlock Holmes so unremarkable, and why I was more bored watching A Game of Shadows than watching the first film. What about you? Is an action film portrayal of the Great Detective refreshing or blasphemous in your opinion, unless it's something in between? Do you like one film more than the other? Do you want to see a third film in this franchise? Do you feel like ranting in defense of or against Downey Jr.'s British accent?

There was an unexpected couple of days' gap in my Sherlockian blog posts, but now that I'm back in business there are still two more similarly themed blog posts to come. I'm going to do a joint review of A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four and finish off by mercilessly pitting Sherlock and Elementary against each other while having a shameful amount of fun doing so. It's been great to see how willingly and insightfully you readers comment about Holmesian things, and I sincerely invite you to continue doing so, perhaps even after I'm finished (for the time being) with this theme!

The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: The Best in the Bunch

I mentioned in my New Year's post that I want to read all the Sherlock Holmes stories by the end of this year, going by the order in which they were published. I've read till The Hound of the Baskervilles and "The Adventure of the Empty House" from The Return of Sherlock Holmes so far, and I'm starting to shape the opinion that I prefer the short stories to the novels – with the exception of The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I thoroughly enjoyed. In my opinion, the Adventures and Memoirs collections are better than A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four at containing the adventure and mystery elements in the Sherlock Holmes stories and keeping the pace enjoyable. I liked both of these compilations of short stories very much, and rather than going for a traditional book review I thought I'd experiment a little and simply list my ten favorite stories from Adventures and Memoirs, and of course the reasons why I liked them particularly – as I'm always a huge why? person! I've listed the stories in the order in which they appear in the books because I think I need to get a bit more familiar with the canon and re-read all of these at least once in order to place them in an order of preference.

So, this is my Top Ten list out of the short stories in The Adventures and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes!


A Case of Identity

Sherlock Holmes' adventures introduce us to clients and criminals of diverse walks of life and Holmes uncovers relevant character history from as far as the Australian gold rush and the Sepoy Rebellion in India. A Case of Identity shows the other end of the spectrum as it's a decidedly domestic affair, but no less crooked and appalling for it. Even if the subject of evil stepmothers has been endlessly explored in fairy tales and all kinds of fiction besides, I find Mr Windibanks a most intriguing villain in his terrible pursuit of psychologically destroying his stepdaughter.


The Adventure of the Speckled Band

And here we have another "Best Victorian Stepdad" candidate. Grimesby Roylott is an even darker character than Mr Windibank, and he has an awesome name. The part where Holmes and Watson sit in the dark for hours gives me the veritable creeps.


The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

I fell in love with this story right at the beginning when Mr Holmes' conversation with his noble client Lord Robert St. Simon had me laughing my head off. Also, the little business with the F.M. initials completely fooled me.


The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

Reading the other participants' tag answers for Hamlette's blog party serves as proof that Miss Violet Hunter has many admirers. She deserves them, too, smart and adventurous as she is (I think you have to be quite adventurous to agree to move in with such a crazy household as the Rucastles'!) I only question her action of carrying around her cut-off hair... What's the point? There are plenty of utterly confusing clues along the story, and I was especially freaked out by the coil of red hair that Miss Hunter finds locked up in her room. This story also holds for me the golden memory of when I managed to deduce at least part of the mystery correctly – the part that Violet was hired to impersonate another red-headed woman! Jephro Rucastle is another great name for another diabolical character.


Silver Blaze

As a long-time horse lover, I'll never object to following Holmes and Watson to a horse stable, especially if it's located on Dartmoor. Dr Watson gets to show off his knowledge of surgical instruments, and we encounter the famous phrase "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" which now has a life of its own as a successful novel and stage play.


The Adventure of the Yellow Face

I was completely lost with what the meaning of that yellow mask could be, and the final resolution was not even remotely close to anything I could possibly have imagined. I never expected to be moved to tears while reading a Sherlock Holmes adventure, but now I have experienced that as well. Sadly, our society is still not done with finding fault in multi-racial families.


The Adventure of the Gloria Scott

Basically, I like this one because it was The First and because part of it happens on a ship. Something about a mutiny in a confined space in the middle of nowhere sets my mind reeling...


The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual

When I was a child, there were few things I loved more than a proper riddle in poetic form. The Musgrave Ritual totally wakes the child in me. I love watching Holmes running around the Musgrave estate, measuring imaginary trees.


The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter

I confess, the main appeal for me in this story is just that it's so hideously dark. Oh, and I met Mycroft Holmes for the first time! Hearing a character's voice and intonation in my head while reading is essential for me in order to have a perfect reading experience and not knowing what Mr Melas' Greek accent would sound like bothered me so much that I had to consult some Youtube videos to get a proper idea and continue reading.


The Final Problem

I had huge expectations for the original Moriarty after seeing Andrew Scott play him, and I wasn't disappointed. I was thrilled to find out that the fantastic "tea party for geniuses" scene in The Reichenback Fall has its roots in this story, and that Sherlock used a lot of the best original dialogue between Holmes and Moriarty!


What are your favorite short stories in the Holmes canon? Do you find them generally better than the novels or not? How do Adventures and Memoirs measure up against the later compilations that I haven't read yet?

The Hobbit, or There And Back Again

In 1936, a 10-year-old boy had the power to decide whether or not his father's publishing house was going to print out a manuscript that he had been given to read. In 2014, a 23-year-old woman is immensely glad that the boy said "yes" – because that manuscript was one of J.R.R. Tolkien's, which we nowadays know as The Hobbit, or There And Back Again!

I don't know if I belong to a minority here, but I read The Lord of the Rings before The Hobbit. I was deeply impressed by the character of Bilbo Baggins right from the start, and was absolutely thrilled when one of my friends told me there was actually a sort of prequel to Rings that was centered around my favourite hobbit. This same amazing person then gave The Hobbit to me as a birthday gift, and since then I have been reading it more or less once a year – so here we have one more example of a "children's book" that can cross over age classifications.

This is the part where I'm done with the introduction and intend to move on to my thoughts on the book, but before I do that I just have to mention really quickly that all the pictures in this post are by John Howe, who has made many wonderful illustrations for Tolkien's works. He even impressed Peter Jackson, who hired him (and Alan Lee) to do conceptual design for the films. So remember to admire John Howe's artwork while you read the post, alright?

Bilbo's Front Hall

In this age when movie-goers everywhere have seen two-thirds of Peter Jackson's epic, block-buster take on The Hobbit, is there anyone who doesn't know the story? Well, it seems I need that plot summary for myself in order to decide what things I want to point out, so here goes: Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who lives a quiet and comfortable life in the finest hobbit-hole of the village until the wizard Gandalf comes by with the idea that Bilbo would make a good addition to a company of 13 dwarves who are about to embark on a long journey to the Lonely Mountain, which they intend to take back from the evil dragon Smaug whose attack on the mountain ended a once-thriving kingdom. Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of the dwarf company, is the descendant of the King under the Mountain and becomes more and more obsessed with gaining back his home as well as the fabulous treasure that the dragon guards. The 13 dwarves and the bemused hobbit encounter many adventures and dangers on their long journey, and little by little Bilbo proves his worth as Gandalf predicted. He also plays the famous match of riddles against Gollum and acquires a mysterious ring without having any idea how important this discovery will be.

An Unexpected Party

I should warn you that this book review is in great danger of becoming a Shameless Tribute to the Incomparable Awesomeness of Bilbo Baggins. Really, though, who can blame me for that? What is there not to admire about Bilbo Baggins? He is the very definition of an unlikely hero who has to end up in tight spots in order to show his best qualities. The dwarves would never have got past Mirkwood without Bilbo! He develops from an uncertain tag-along to a respected member of Thorin's company, and finally he makes decisions of his own when he realizes that Thorin's quest might not be so rightful and respectable after all. There is a great Genius Bilbo Moment in almost every chapter, and each of them builds his character significantly. He accepts that he is small and apparently insignificant to everyone around him, and he is smart enough to use it for his advantage. Everyone should take notes from Bilbo, seriously.

Gwaihir's Eyrie

One of the most common criticisms agains The Hobbit is that Bilbo is pretty much the only well-rounded character. The company of dwarves is mainly a bunch of confusingly similar names with no individual personalities, apart from Thorin whose long-kept bitterness and growing greed get a fair amount of attention especially towards the end of the book. The other 12 dwarves, on the other hand; Balin is the wise one, Bombur is the fat one, and Óin and Glóin light the fire – that's pretty much all you get out of them. One of my favourite things in the first Hobbit film was how they managed to make the dwarves into proper characters. Frankly, I don't mind their under-development in the book that much, because Bilbo makes up for them and there is so much going on anyway.

Smaug the Golden

The Hobbit is a proper adventure story in the sense that there's a wonderful variety of  locations. The places I always look forward to most when I travel with Bilbo and the dwarves are Rivendell, Beorn's house, the Woodland King's court and Lake Town. Tolkien doesn't devote quite as many pages to setting the scene and describing everything in minute detail as he does in The Lord of the Rings, but that's alright because I don't mind having the freedom to imagine. I'm especially intrigued by the elves of Mirkwood – the first Middle-Earth elves I met were the noble, serene and profoundly wise Eldar in The Lord of the Rings, and I quite like their wilder relatives in the dark, scary woods. Even if they are a little unreasonable in imprisoning the dwarves, you have to give them credit for going on hunting trips in a forest infested with giant spiders. Besides, King Thranduil turns out to be pretty decent in the end.

Smaug Destroys Lake Town

To finish off the review, let's get back to Bilbo's Incomparable Awesomeness – I managed to shut up about it for two paragraphs already, didn't I? Somewhere back between the first and second Hobbit films, there was a website that I can't find anymore which posted a rather brilliant poll on Bilbo's best moments. So I'm going to list all of Bilbo's great deeds in a similar fashion and ask you to comment on what is your favourite and why. And, to be absolutely mean, I'm going to make you choose just one. If you haven't read the book and don't want spoilers on the remaining Hobbit film, you probably should skip the poll.

So, what in your opinion was Bilbo's bravest deed on his journey to the Lonely Mountain?

1. Deciding to go on an adventure in the first place
2. Sneaking up on the trolls
3. Playing riddles with Gollum
4. Saving his friends from the giant spiders
5. Getting everyone out of King Thranduil's dungeons
6. Burgling from Smaug
7. Giving the Arkenstone to Bard and King Thranduil behind Thorin's back

My choice would be number 7, without a doubt. After doing so much to aid the dwarves, Bilbo realizes that Thorin has been overcome by greed and the best thing to do is that one thing that will upset Thorin the most. 

The Children of Húrin

The Children of Húrin – written by J.R.R. Tolkien and edited by his son Christopher Tolkien – is one of those books that looks deceptively small and easy to consume, but which I nevertheless keep re-reading year after year. Now I had been itching to read it once more and then write the review that it very much deserved, and the Tolkien Blog Party hosted by Hamlette at The Edge of the Precipice provided the final inspiration.

The Children of Húrin is one of the many drafts concerning the history of Middle-Earth that Tolkien never finished during his lifetime. However, it was among those that he came nearest to completing, and it appeared posthumously in The Silmarillion as well as Unfinished Tales, both of which were collections of Tolkien's Middle-Earth drafts edited by Christopher Tolkien. Even as I read this story in both of these books, it immediately became a favourite of mine. Christopher Tolkien then did a little more work on the text, making it into a more complete narrative that was published as an independent book in 2007. I remember very well that I was one of the first people in Tampere to snatch it off the shelves of the local bookstore and it was a great day for me, even though there was no queuing and mass hysteria involved such as with the Harry Potter books.

I know quite a few people who are avid fans of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's world in general, but who feel a bit nervous about going aboard The Silmarillion to see the earlier days of Middle-Earth. "Should I read it? What's it really like?" they carefully ask. All this is completely understandable! Tolkien goes on quite a bit about his beloved Eldar and their history in The Lord of the Rings as well, and these digressions don't always seem entirely necessary to advance the plot (on a side note though, yours truly is a complete nerd for history of any kind and all the smallest details, so I was never bothered...) So how would it feel to read an entire book devoted to Tolkien's incredibly vast and detailed history of Middle-Earth?

Well, like I said on that little side note, I read all sorts of "background material" with more enthusiasm than the average reader, so I can honestly say that I love The Silmarillion and everything related to it, and I can't really see how anyone could be bored by stuff like that. But I can also say, just as honestly, that for anyone that feels daunted by Tolkien's style in handling Middle-Earth's history, The Children of Húrin is an excellent place to start. So in case you were already beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get round to the actual review – yes, I am going to tell you why exactly I love this story so much. I'll also do it completely free of spoilers.

Túrin Turambar, an illustration by Alan Lee. Normally I'm not a big fan of grey, but I absolutely love these colours.

As much as Tolkien dedicated his time to devising the history and languages of the Eldar, in The Children of Húrin, the focus is placed on a family of mortals. The setting is in Beleriand (a Western part of Middle-Earth that has perished completely by the time The Lord of the Rings takes place) in the First Age, and Morgoth brings darkness to both Elves and Men – his servant, Sauron, would later become a Dark Lord himself. Húrin is a great leader among the Men, but he goes to war against Morgoth and is taken prisoner, so his son Túrin grows up mostly fatherless. As the war goes very badly against the allied forces of Elves and Men, Túrin's homeland becomes unsafe and his mother Morwen sends him to Doriath – and as I like to point out connections to The Lord of the Rings for the benefit of those that have read that but not this, I should mention that the legendary love story of Beren and Lúthien begins in Doriath. Meanwhile, as Morgoth continues to hold Húrin prisoner he puts a curse on him and all his descendants. It seems that the curse is in fact coming to action as one misfortune after another falls on Túrin. The mistakes that he makes send him on travels all across Beleriand while he strives to escape the shadow upon him. Each time he manages to find a safe haven for a while and thinks he has found peace, the ongoing war with Morgoth forces him out. Eventually, his path crosses with a mysterious young woman who has lost her memory.

Despite the fact that Tolkien himself didn't get this story past the drafting stage, the final, published version of The Children of Húrin is an entirely coherent work with a beautiful narrative structure. Tolkien's devotion to his mythology and his son's respect for the same and willingness to bring this material to Tolkien's admirers come brilliantly together. I don't know in any great detail in what ways Christopher Tolkien edited his father's draft and what additions he made, but I certainly couldn't tell by the book itself which parts were edited in.

For a Tolkien-written book, The Children of Húrin is very forward-paced and compact. Something essential takes place in each chapter, and the scenery changes in almost every other. All this movement keeps the reader very much engaged, especially as Túrin, the main protagonist, develops with almost every turn of the page. There are plenty of thought-provoking secondary characters as well; my favourite ones would absolutely be Túrin's mother Morwen – the most determined woman Tolkien ever wrote, even Éowyn would envy the strength of her heart – and his best friend, Beleg the elf, who is the best companion anyone could ever have and a total master at shooting with a bow. The friendship between Túrin and Beleg provides a much-appreciated ray of light to a tale that is mostly filled with darkness and doom – though, to be completely honest, this same friendship is the centre of one of the greatest tragedies that take place here. Oh my, now that I wrote that out I'm even sadder than while reading the book itself...

Which conveniently brings me to the tone and thematics of the story. If I was to come up with a really psychedelic, one-sentence description of The Children of Húrin, I would say: "It's kind of like The Hobbit, except that there are no hobbits in it and everything always goes wrong." In terms of pacing, this is an adventure story, but in terms of tone it's a tragedy. What makes it a thought-provoking tragedy (instead of just a severely depressing one) is that it constantly brings up the question of whether Túrin's misfortunes really are all caused by Morgoth's curse, or does he bring it on himself by being too proud and stubborn. Túrin's character flaws are highlighted by the fact that he is a mortal man who lives most of his life among the elves – while the elves are ready to stay put under Morgoth's shadow and wait for an unspecified moment in the far future when they feel it is the right moment for action, Túrin feels his own mortality very strongly and says and does unwise things in his frustration. Exploring the mentalities of Túrin's family and the elves makes for a rather interesting contemplation on the possible reason why Tolkien wanted these two different races to co-exist in his mythology in the first place.

Even though The Children of Húrin is very, very sad, it is not depressing. The sceneries and the characters that we come across on this eventful journey are exquisitely vibrant, and even when the story deals with pain, loss and inevitable fate, it does so in a most beautiful way. If I might make a guess, a reader who picks up The Children of Húrin is very likely to be interested in The Silmarillion and other similar works next. Then again, for those who aren't that eager to learn absolutely everything about Tolkien's mythology, this one is very much worth a read anyway because it doesn't require such a conviction in order to be appreciated. I for one am extremely glad that The Children of Húrin was expanded and made into a book of its own, because it has more than enough story and theme to deserve that.