The classic characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes” come to life in a modern day, gripping storyline shot beautifully on the dark streets of an old world London. Get comfortable in the crowded theatre and sit tight for the next two hours as you watch Robert Downey Jr. become the quintessential Holmes along and his partner in crime, Dr. John Watson, wonderfully played by Jude Law (who, apart from filming these past few years, was quite busy on other, more female related ‘projects’. Ahem.) In the female lead we have the beautiful Rachel McAdams who is the ultimate femme fatale, Irene Adler; torturing Holmes from afar with emotional female mind games and yet in love with him at the same time. Sounds like your typical relationship to me.
Holmes and Watson start the movie off with a fight scene in a church basement, battling a religious covenant headed by Lord Blackwood (evilly and masterfully played by Mark Strong). Of course, Holmes and Watson take down an entire mob of possessed zealots only to be joined by the London police who are always just one step behind throughout the entire movie. Many jokes about the police commissioners’ ability to solve crime ensue. Lord Blackwood is arrested and hanged, or so it seems until he comes back from the dead. Peculiar indeed, but Holmes, the man of logic, reason and an infallible eye for detail, denounces anything that reeks of magic and prefers to investigate on his own by licking rocks, wearing an eye patch, sniffing various dead creatures along the way and making many mental notes.
To unwind from his day job, Holmes uses the wonderful outlet of some sort of brutal strength conditioning by fighting huge shirtless men who unfortunately were not particularly attractive either. The fight scenes are wonderful, brutal and very convincing yet contrary to Doyle’s original representation of Holmes who for one, would never resort to physical force until he was faced with Professor Moriarty in the fictional novel, but yet the two men do not meet in the dual story line of this movie. Moriarty makes a few brief appearances strictly in presence, yet we never see his face since this movie primarily focuses on the hunt for Blackwood. Guy Ritchie must be commended here on his ability to intertwine two story lines and create a very realistic Holmes-like era of black overcoats and top hats, not to mention the strange gypsy women who predict Watson’s future. The moments of CGI are brief and add even more adventure and thrill to this non stop drama mystery complete with dreary waterways and Big Ben looming in the distance.
The movie takes you through a whirlwind of emotions filled with laughs, cringes, gasps and overall just wide eyed wonderment. Much like Holmes, you feel the entire mystery dip and bend right before your eyes. Just when you think you know what is going on, the plot twists further but Holmes never wavers in strength or spirit. Underlying the thrills, the brotherly bond and friendship between Holmes and Watson is almost palpable. The modern day Watson is engaged to be married and has a very difficult time trying to leave his wild days behind. Holmes is quite dependent on the Doctor and uses very successful reverse psychology on him in order to convince him not to leave his side. The film ends with only one mystery solved, prompting my strong belief that a sequel is soon to be in the works, if not already. Without a doubt, this is a film worth seeing.
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MORE INFORMATION
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http://sherlock-holmes-movie.warnerbros.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988045
