Sherlock Holmes Movie Review

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Mark Strong.

Direction: Guy Ritchie.

Rating: 3 / 5

Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes is an irreverent, comic-book take on the adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's cerebral London detective. Robert Downey Jr stars as the beloved private eye who's been reinvented as something of an action hero who leaps out of buildings, dodges explosions, and gets down and dirty in a violent bare-knuckle brawl. Along with his relatively reserved sidekick, the dependable Dr John Watson (played by Jude Law), he still solves crimes for a living, but the pair spends most of their time bickering and sniping like an old married couple.

The film's silly plot involves the villainous Lord Blackwood (played by Mark Strong), who after being arrested and executed for satanic practices in the film's opening scenes, somehow engineers his return from the dead and hatches a nefarious plot to rule the British Empire. Holmes and Watson, of course, must stop him.

Ritchie's film is sheer popcorn entertainment with the kind of blockbuster trappings he's consciously avoided in the past - computer-generated special effects, big action set-pieces, and that pricey 19th century production design. The good thing is there's enough here for his hardcore fans to not feel completely alienated. There's a kinetic energy to the action scenes that's vintage Guy Ritchie, and occasionally he employs his trademark super-slo-mo to the hand-to-hand combat scenes that instantly remind you of the best bits in both Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

But Sherlock Holmes is a buddy film in the end, and it's the fraternal bromance between Downey and Law that keeps you engaged. Both actors are in excellent form, and their witty banter makes up for everything else that's amiss, including a half-baked track involving Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, a mysterious woman from Holmes' past.

Too much is happening all at once, and while that does throw you off occasionally, Sherlock Holmes is an enjoyable enough watch for the sheer charm of its two leads. Jude Law delivers a low-key yet elegant performance as Watson, giving his co-star all the room to shine. As the boozing, brawling Holmes, Robert Downey Jr is excellent. With the twitch of an eye or the subtle shift of a smile or a frown, he conveys a variety of feelings, and literally grabs the film from the word go.

I'm going with three out of five for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes; at best it's a cheeky re-imagination of a British national treasure, but boy it's jolly good fun.