Sherlock Holmes hits Chinese cinemas amid controversial reviews
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Having grossed more than 400 million dollars worldwide, director Guy Ritchie's suspense action flick Sherlock Holmes hits Chinese theaters on February 25, three months after its official release in other regions.
Based on the longstanding influence of detective Sherlock Holmes and the appeal of Hollywood hunk Robert Downey Jr. and British heartthrob Jude Law, the movie is, even without much media hype, poised to be another smash hit after 3D blockbuster Avatar has ruled the Chinese film market for the last two months.
The reinvention of the Sherlock Holmes character as a sloppy kungfu hand has stirred up the same controversy among Chinese movie fans as it has in other parts of the world: that the new super detective is a betrayal of the original image of a tidy English gentleman in the original books of Arthur Conan Doyle.
Hints of an ambiguous homosexual intimacy between Holmes and his stalwart partner, Watson, could also hardly go unnoticed by some sensitive and nosy viewers.
The core storyline of Holmes fearlessly fighting Lord Blackwood, the villain who plots to control the English Empire, is another weak spot of this movie, criticized as a tacky old Hollywood strategy.
Despite the criticism, the English sense of humor, the panorama of resurrected 19th century London and director Guy Ritchie's signature cinematographic technique of fast scene movement are still impressive.
Nominated for two Academy Awards for art direction and original score, the film is rated 7.6 on the international film guide Web site imdb.com, while domestic viewers give it a bit more generous grade of 8.1 on mtime.com, China's most popular online film fan base.
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