Why "Sherlock in Russia" causes Spanish shame

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We counted at least five shortcomings in the domestic series. And not a single dignity.

The START streaming service has released two episodes of a new series from Sreda, the creators of Gogol and The Last Minister.

According to the plot, Sherlock Holmes (Maxim Matveyev) tries to catch Jack the Ripper in London and, during the next fight, calculates that he is Russian. After the villain wounds Dr. Watson, the great detective goes in his footsteps to St. Petersburg. In Russia, Sherlock finds himself a new assistant - the unsociable and cynical doctor Ilya Kartsev (Vladimir Mishukov). Together, they try to track down the Ripper, and the local police put obstacles in their way.

You shouldn't find fault with the non-canonical plot of this series. Dozens of new stories have been written and shot about Sherlock Holmes. In Russia, he has already visited many times in the fantasies of different authors. And the detective met Jack the Ripper in books, in the movie "Murder by Order", and even in computer games.

The problems of the series are completely different. Even after the first trailer, in which jokes about jellied meat were interspersed with an unexpected soundtrack from the song Toxic by Britney Spears, one could suspect that the viewer was in for something completely ridiculous. Alas, the first two episodes, which tell a complete story (they can even be considered a separate film), only confirm the worst fears.

1. An illogical plot

Literally from the first minutes of the series, there is a feeling that the authors are showing the second season at once. There is no talk at all about any gradual acquaintance. Watson goes into a coma, flashing on the screen once, which makes it very difficult to get into Sherlock's emotions. And after a few minutes the hero, who, by coincidence, knows Russian, leaves for St. Petersburg.

You can not even find fault with the fact that the serial Sherlock Holmes studied the language from the books of Dostoevsky (the hero of Arthur Conan Doyle was not very fond of fiction). But even without this, many questions will arise.

It seems that, in the minds of the creators of Sherlock in Russia, St. Petersburg of the 19th century is like a village of about 200 people. Otherwise, it is very difficult to explain the fact that everyone knows each other.

The heroes here are not real people, but the most banal clichés one can imagine. It all starts with the stupid policeman-soldier Difficult performed by Pavel Maikov. Strictly speaking, the actor doesn't even try to act here. In a playful video, where he read #we read songs with Pavel Maikov. Bachelor Party - "Sex without a break" is the text of the song "Bachelor Party", and that was more emotion than in 2 hours of the series. And it ends with the cutesy police chief Znamensky (Konstantin Bogomolov) in a white coat, which seems to have come out of a clip of Russian rappers. Plus noble prostitutes, an indistinct copy of Irene Adler, a revolutionary reporter and other annoying types of film noir.

Moreover, the minor characters appear in the right places just by coincidence and immediately tell the main character all the necessary information for no reason. What could be more stupid? Of course, they are villains who retell all their plans in plain text, as if in bad comics.

It would seem that it could not be worse. But by the end of the second series, political and social themes will also come into play. They are generally superfluous here, it was just necessary to add topicality.

2. Indistinct detective part

Sherlock Holmes's deductive method can be viewed in different ways. Even in the books of Arthur Conan Doyle, some of the detective's conclusions seemed drawn. There is no need to talk about the BBC series, and even more "Elementary" with Johnny Lee Miller. In the last of these, Sherlock even guessed that a man was killed in the park many years ago, just because one of the trees grew faster than the others.

But the series from START seems to outperform all its competitors in the weirdness of investigations. The conclusions of Sherlock Holmes here are most often based on unconfirmed thoughts. One of the most striking examples: if a woman is beautiful and knows how to be cunning, she definitely worked in the theater. Which one? It's simple: at its best.

In fairness, we note: the detective himself repeatedly declares that his deduction is a deception invented by Watson. But this is unlikely to save the viewer from the complete illogicality of what is happening. Moreover, it seems that they tried to make the main storyline confusing, albeit having spied ideas in famous films. But they brought it to the denouement so clumsily that it is impossible to take it seriously.

In fact, the whole real investigation is based on the fact that Sherlock Holmes is looking for a left-handed person. This is repeated a dozen times. And the word "ambidextrous" in the finale sounds so pretentious that it can compete in comic relief with "I am your grandfather" from the ninth episode of "Star Wars".

3. Ridiculous jokes about Russia if too serious

Perhaps the project could have been saved by self-irony. That the films of Guy Ritchie, that the series "Sherlock" are just distinguished by a kind of deconstruction of the detective genre: there are too many canon stories based on the books of Arthur Conan Doyle, for the postmodern era, other versions are needed.

But "Sherlock in Russia", although it tries to seem ridiculous, does it in the most awkward way. The investigation and the basis of the action are too serious and, as already mentioned, completely illogical. And they entertain the viewer with jokes about Russian culture, which a prim Englishman cannot understand in any way. Only after getting off the ship, he immediately steps into the manure. And then, over and over again, he asks the meaning of all the unusual turns like "where Makar did not drive calves." The first two or three times it looks funny. But by the tenth it is already frankly tiring.

They try to make the audience laugh with the phrase “kulebyaka with tripe”. And twice.

Of course, vodka and bears are also mentioned. And in comparison with "Sherlock in Russia" the impudent and deliberate jokes about the stereotypes from "The Great" seem not so cruel anymore.

And in the first episode there is an insert with modern hip-hop. And this is possibly the funniest part of the series. Simply because it looks as artificial as possible, unnecessary and out of the whole atmosphere of the story. Probably, they wanted to do it stylishly, like Guy Ritchie. Did not work out.

4. Pavilion filming is terrible, location - even worse

If you get distracted for a while while watching the first episode and miss the move of Sherlock Holmes from England to Russia, then you may not notice the difference in the entourage of the streets. Trying to create a dark noir setting, the authors of the series seemed to be lazy and just took completely faceless sets. As a result, most of the scenes look theatrical. This is not St. Petersburg, but some kind of abstract city. Or rather, a couple of streets where not real people walk, but extras in suits, not even trying to behave naturally.

Of course, many inexpensive Western TV shows, for example, the British Chronicles of Frankenstein, are distinguished by this "cardboardness". But they are justified by a witty plot and good actors. Alas, Sherlock in Russia cannot boast of this.

But the desire to scold the meager scenery disappears as soon as a few scenes shot in real locations are shown.

You can try not to pay attention to the fact that Sherlock speaks for a long time and convincingly about the distant outskirts of the city, and then the viewer is shown the very center - for sure, only the locals will find fault with this. But it's impossible not to notice modern elements in the background. Yes, old houses have survived on the Moika embankment in St. Petersburg. But for some reason the authors forgot that even they now have plastic windows and new drainpipes. In order not to be so noticeable, they are trying to cover up the background with a mist that has come from nowhere. It doesn't help much: in a couple of shots, even air conditioners can be seen.

5. An attempt to repeat the success of "Gogol"

Those who have watched other projects of the Sreda company, most likely, even in the first minutes, realize where the problems of Sherlock in Russia are growing from.

They are trying with all their might to turn Maxim Matveev into an analogue of Alexander Petrov, who plays Gogol in the series of the same name. Not only is the image similar, the hero is even added to the character with strange seizures and mystical flashbacks. The framing is exactly the same: most of the most emotional scenes are close-ups of Sherlock's face, slowing down and speeding up.

All the companions of the protagonist are the same variations on the theme of the characters of "Gogol". A silly policeman, a wise doctor with trauma from the past, a mysterious girl. They were simply renamed and given new faces.

Probably, the producers from Sreda decided: since the audience liked Gogol, the same Sherlock in Russia will go. But they forgot about the difference in genres.

With many shortcomings, Gogol was saved by a combination of mysticism and humor, as well as an approach that was fresh for the domestic project. And it fit well into the image of the writer himself. The creators took the atmosphere of his early stories and threw a hero there. Yes, and they took real stars to the main roles: in addition to the aforementioned Petrov, Oleg Menshikov and Evgeny Stychkin appear.

In the case of Sherlock in Russia, this mysticism does not suit the detective at all. The project seems secondary and as unnatural as possible.

From the first two episodes, it is difficult to understand what exactly the creators of "Sherlock in Russia" wanted to show. The series falls short of the dark noir of Sherlock Holmes and the Silk Stocking Case with Rupert Everett, it doesn't look like a sensible detective story or an adventure story. And the comedy from him turned out to be mediocre.

The project can hardly even be called simply bad. He came out somehow ashamed and as awkward as possible. The first episode can still make you laugh with such absurdity. But then it becomes sad.