I don’t know if Hitfix’s Drew McWeeny has reviewed Guy Ritchie‘s Sherlock Holmes or not, but I do know I can’t find his review so let’s assume he hasn’t posted and that he’s either currently writing or has recently written one up, etc.

I’m not trying to be an asshole but I’m wondering what this must feel like, Drew being so invested in Holmes lore and having called himself “Moriarty” while writing for AICN and having taken shots at me for hating the movie unseen and asserting that it’s valid for Holmes to be a muscular kick-boxing martial arts stud and so on because it’s all this stuff is in the original Arthur Conan Doyle books, etc.

And yet…well, this shouldn’t matter to a serious critic like Drew but he must be aware of the swirling grey clouds taking shape overhead. He must be at least sensing what the Movie Godz are saying about this film. Or at least what’s being grumbled about in some quarters, which is that Sherlock Holmes is yet another example of ongoing cultural devolution and a corporate-funded desecration of a time-honored literary brand in order to grab 21st Century Eloi dollars.

I’m not judging Drew. I’ve been in similar pre-emptive situations. I’ve gotten my hate-on for unseen films only to realize the finished film isn’t half bad (i.e., The Lovely Bones). I’ve fallen in love with this or that script only to feel disappointed after seeing the film. I’ve been mezzo-mezzo or mostly-but-not-100%-positive about a script only to fall head-over-heels for the film (i.e., Rushmore). Or I’ve felt enormously hopeful about an English-language remake because I so enjoyed the European- or Asian-made original only to feel crestfallen, etc.

I only know that McWeeney must feel a little twitchy right now, and that I feel his pain. Or the tension in his brain, rather. But he’s a good-enough writer to deal with this sort of thing. I guess all I’m really saying is, I’m looking forward to his review.