re Pind. Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Bad Movie By Mark Fisher Sherlock Holmes movie that it would be very different from the books, and justifiably so. Most of the Sherlock Holmes stories are quite short, and wouldn’t come close to being the length required for a film. Part of why Sherlock Holmes is regarded as the world’s greatest detective is because the man is just too smart to need more than 100 pages to solve even the most difficult cases and defeat even the most ingenious of criminals. Regardless, people wouldn’t want to see a film where the main character has things so easy. Audiences want to see their hero struggle. But the tradeoff is that even by having Sherlock struggle in the first place, the character is completely altered. What made Sherlock the world’s greatest detective was the ease that he solved his cases with. If you take away Holmes’ near perfection, you’ve taken away what made him Sherlock Holmes. Instead, this latest adaptation shows him as just another flawed action hero, and this is just another buddy action movie wheré two mismatched partners team up to save the world. During interviews to promote the film, Jude Law, who plays Dr. Watson, Holmes’ partner/sidekick, said that one of the goals of the film was to present Holmes and Watson as equals, instead of having Watson merely be Holmes’ sidekick. Unfortunately for Sherlock Holmes fans, the filmmakers chose to do this more so by bringing Holmes down instead of building Watson up. The Sherlock Holmes in this film is, to put it bluntly, deranged. He is a loner completely incapable of dealing with society. He has no sense of what behaviour is socially acceptable. He doesn’t even go outside unless forced, preferring to stay inside his chaotic room where he conducts bizarre scientific experiments. Dr. Watson is sick of Holmes’ bizarre antics, and no one else can even stand to be around him. The Sherlock in the books was always an eccentric, but a respectable one. He was someone that everyone liked, even if no really one understood, however in the movie, everyone’s reaction to him is one of contempt, even his only friend. The film would be doubly worse if it weren’t for the fine acting by Law as Watson and Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes. The two of them are able to make the most out of the material and the interplay between the two of them during the film’s middle section when their relationship reaches its lowest point is top notch. They do a superb [== going in to seeing the new £ job of acting like two people who can no longer stand one another. The dynamic between Holmes and Watson is a deep one. They are friends, co- workers, roommates, and business partners. And Law and Downey do an excellent job of being two guys who have done all of these things so much that now they’re sick of each other. Sometimes the two are so venomous to one another that it gets uncomfortable. It’s like watching close friends fight over things that should be a private matter. Rachel McAdams, who plays Sherlock’s love interest, doesn’t fair nearly as well. In several scenes she seems to have no idea why her character is saying her lines. She’s believable as Holmes’ intellectual superior, but it occurs to me that in this film, that is no longer an impressive feat. There is absolutely no reason for her character to be madly in love with the Holmes’ presented in this film. Everyone else is treating Sherlock Holmes with contempt and disgust and even his best friend is sick of being around him, and yet the audience is supposed to believe that this intelligent and attractive woman who is a great deal younger than him is completely in love with him, without ever being given a reason why. A flashback scene between the two of them set before Sherlock became a social pariah would have done wonders for this film and for McAdams’ performance. The less said about this film’s villain, Lord Blackwell, the better. British action Mark Strong portrays him like a villain in a B-grade horror movie. There are some clever points in the writing that help redeem the lackluster plot, including some much-appreciated touches of dry British wit. They won’t get nearly as big of a laugh as they deserve, because of the film’s needlessly dark themes. Sherlock is struggling against a Satanist who is planning on using chemical weapons (how topical!) to try to destroy the government, and explicitly states that he is planning on destroying America after he’s done with England. This is completely out of step with any opponent Sherlock Holmes has ever faced, and this is really a matter that the military should be dealing with instead of a private detective and his sidekick. The only reason I can think of why they went with such a villain was that they made Holmes such an unlikable character that they needed to have his opponent be an America-hating Satanic terrorist in order to get the audience to cheer for Sherlock Holmes to beat him. Turn down your hearing aid, this Tower of Power will blow you away! Old school funk group still knows what is hip! Jay Schreiber arts editor question: What is hip? On December 30 at the River Rock Casino, Tower of Power answered that question loud and clear. Playing to a sold out theater, The Tower of Power have never had any problems packing them in when playing Vancouver. “We remember all our friends in this city!” said Emilio Castillo, founder of the group and leader of the Tower of Power horn section “Do you remember the Commodore? Do you remember the Orpheum? Do you remember Richards?” Emilio continued while pumping up the crowd with venues of TOP shows past. The group, who has been around since the late “60s, consists of 10 members and are composed of a rhythm section of bass, drums, B3 organ and guitar, a well balanced five-piece horn section, and a lead vocalist. With three original members left since their 1968 debut, the group has I: 1975, they asked us a simple never ceased to be a strong force in the soul/funk genre which they helped to establish. “We have a new album out,” lead vocalist Lenny Williams mentioned to the crowd. “It would be great if you picked it up because, um, well, we need the money.” Williams continued jokingly. Lenny went on to say that there the group was returning to their soul roots before performing a rendition of the classic tune “Mrs. Jones.” During the do-wop chorus on ballads the horn section would jive in time with syncopated dance moves. “The Funky Doctor,” Barry, sax player and eldest member of Tower of power even took a dance break down solo during “Still Diggin’ on James Brown.” The crowd was lively and very responsive to TOP considering the average age of people in the room was around 45 or older. “This must be where the party people are at,” said Lenny Williams of the people dancing right in front of the stage, Tower of Power finished off their set with a medley featuring their most famous tune, “What is Hip” before coming back out for an encore.