Film Reviews

Sherlock Holmes

• Rating:
• Director: Guy Ritchie
• Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong
• Details: US/128mins 12A

Reimagining Sherlock Holmes as a bare-knuckle brawling martial arts expert, Guy Ritchie has taken the nineteenth century sleuth and given him a modern twist. Think Jason Bourne, if he was a slightly neurotic private investigator, born before he could be tracked by the CIA using anything but a compass. Downey Jr. and Law actually make for a thoroughly amusing pairing, and the action and indeed pacing are handled extremely well by Ritchie - making his first film on this big a scale. Plot wise, it's often needlessly convoluted and simultaneously conventional, effectively playing like your run-of-the-mill buddy movie - It's a fun ride all the same. Opening with a daring mission, it sees Holmes and Watson rescue a young woman from the evil grasps of the dastardly Lord Blackwood, who was planning on offing her in a ritual deigned to give him darker magical powers. A few months later and Blackwood is to be hung by the neck until he is dead, only problem is, he turns out to be very much alive. Holmes and Watson must track him down, using both their not inconsiderable brains and brawn before he can pick off any more randomers; old school Sherlock Holmes, this most certainly is not. Guy Ritchie is a director who knows what modern audiences want. Having misstepped atrociously with Revolver and Swept Away, he bounced back with the enjoyable RocknRolla and has a blast here shooting a blockbuster in his native London. His Holmes is predictably hyper-stylised, but the execution firmly aligns with Downey Jr's giddy interpretation of the legendary character. This is not a film that purists of the literary form of the character will in any way enjoy, though - this is Sherlock Holmes 2.0. Riding on the crest of a well-deserved wave, Downey Jr uses the role as an excuse to pound the weights. A mixed martial arts practitioner, he and Law get into many a scuffle here, and both actors carry themselves admirably - with the action rarely descending into the unbelievable. The script works well for the back-and-forths with Holmes and Watson, but when it comes to actual plotting, or the development of peripheral characters, it's sorely lacking. Despite its flaws, Sherlock Holmes still manages to entertain thoroughly and should be a massive holiday hit regardless.

Review by Mike Sheridan