In Victorian London, renowned detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.), aided by his faithful friend Dr. Watson (Jude Law), apprehend the mysterious Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), in the midst of conducting a murderous sacrificial rite. Blackwood is sentenced to hang for his dealings in the Dark Arts, but when his tomb is found broken open from the inside and an eyewitness also spies him, the hysterical populace is only too eager to believe Blackwood is operating from beyond the grave.
Arguably English literature's greatest figure of cerebral logic and criminal deduction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation has been put on film countless times over the last century. When it was announced that British director Guy Ritchie would be the latest to bring the pipe-smoking resident of 221B Baker Street to the screen, it was met with no small amount of trepidation. Ritchie had built a career glamourising cockney geezers and small-time hoodlums from contemporary London's chaotic underworld to diminishing success over the past decade. His work was largely tongue in cheek, with a flamboyant, hyperactive visual aesthetic that seemed inappropriate for depicting London at its industrial peak.
Ritchie has defied his critics, however, by delivering a delightful romp of a movie, due in no small part to its assured direction. He has created London at the end of the nineteenth Century is glorious detail - perfectly capturing the city during its heyday, expanding under rapid construction, while nurturing a hotbed of crime, decadence and mystery that spreads through everyone from the beggars and street walkers to Parliament and the Aristocracy.
At the centre of the film, however, is the brilliantly shaped relationship between Holmes and Watson - a tender friendship that over many years has evolved into a bickering, shamelessly co-dependant bond nothing short of a marriage. Robert Downey jr. and Jude Law are both wonderful in their roles, sparring with pithy banter, playful jibes, yet a continuous underlying affection that creates genuine onscreen chemistry.
All the film's best moments come, not from witnessing Holmes' masterful skills of logical deduction, or the numerous scraps and scrapes he frequently finds himself in, but from the crackling back-and-forth between him and his partner. Watson has, albeit hesitantly, made the decision to get married, and Holmes sees only too well how this will break up their long-standing and fruitful partnership. Holmes seems far more determined to keep Watson all to himself than in apprehending Lord Blackwood, and his attempts to do so are as strangely touching as they are frequently hilarious.
Ritchie has assembled an excellent cast of British and American acting talent including the hugely menacing Mark Strong as Blackwood and Eddie Marsan as the long-suffering Inspector Lestrade - forever one step behind Holmes and his hugely superior powers of detection. Rachel McAdams remains charming in a role of little substance as a mysterious international crook who successfully won Holmes' heart, only to betray him, while Kelly Reilly as Watson's fiancée Mary, is deliberately pushed to the periphery.
With a visually exciting backdrop that playfully hopscotches between period detective yarn, supernatural thriller and steampunk action fantasy, coupled with an engaging and witty script and the knockout pairing of Downey and Law, Ritchie has turned in his best film certainly since SNATCH, if not of his career. A fact made more interesting by the fact it is his first film working from somebody else's script. If he is happy to surrender his mockney gangsters for writing of this caliber, his career may yet see its best days and help steer SHERLOCK HOLMES to becoming Hollywood's newest blockbuster franchise.
Cross published in bc Magazine (Hong Kong)
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A Cracked.com article described this abomination as "Lethal Weapon 2 in Victorian Clothes". Enough said.
Don't believe in Cracked, believe in James Marsh and Drew McWeeney. They have been proved right before. If this one really works as well as you guys say, with these actors, this director, these classic characters and the Dickensian setting: it must be spectacular.
Just to clarify, I most certainly am NOT casting aspersions on the competency of James Marsh and Drew McWeeney. I'm sure the film is probably a pretty decent comedy action adventure. Even my wife wants to watch it. But it is NOT Sherlock Holmes. If the film and main character were called 'Buggerall Jones' or something I'd probably buy a ticket for the Downey and Law pairing alone. I've written about my problems with the film at length elsewhere, and I shan't repeat them here. Bottom line is, if you enjoy the film, that's great. Personally, I'm not even going to touch it with a 50-foot pole and full biohazard gear, though.
Oh, BTW, Cracked is just a comedy site populated by dick jokes. I wouldn't trust their reviews even if they paid me. I was merely struck by the incredibly apt description they gave the film...
Apart from all other reviews here, which are surely due, I guess the most weird thing that struck me were the ongoing kickboxing-kungfu-martial-arts scenes. This seems to me appropriate for Snatch or RocknRolla, but oddly misfitted in Victorian-age-based adventure.
I didn't enjoy this quite as much as James - I saw it last night - but definitely agree on all of his major points. Downey and Law are sterling together and it's definitely Ritchie's best since Snatch. Which is saying something because I like Rocknrolla a lot, too. That said, I felt like it bogged down some once it started to move past the core relationship and into a wildly over-complicated plot and that plot is pretty silly if you stop to think too much about it. And while she's not horrible, I thought Rachel McAdam's was pretty clearly outclassed by both Downey and Law whenever she had to act directly opposite them.
The fight scenes, incidentally, were the only really signature Ritchie moments in the film and were actually some of my favorites ... they put Holmes' deductive skills to unusual use, running through once in slow motion as Holmes dissects his opponents' weaknesses and lays out a plan of attack and then at full speed as he actually carries things out. Pretty fantastic.
"Without A Clue" for the Win! Still easily my favourite Holmes story (and it in itself is an off-canon parody of the famous detective.
I'll see this, in no small part because the wife is excited to. Plus both the leads are a pleasure to watch even if the film itself is silly.
Looking forward to this!
This, Avatar, Karate Kid remake, no wonder why i haven't go to the cinema in a year.
Sherlock Holmes for the ADD generation, jerking and twitching like a crank freak itching for his next sniff.