Guy Ritchie's slam-bang take on literature's most famous sleuth, SHERLOCK HOLMES, is a clever reimagining of the detective's adventures for the 21st century led by the furious fists and fiery wit of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.

   

Review by Scott Weitz — December 29, 2009 — 4 Stars

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Both an update for today's film audiences and a return to forgotten details of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's source writings, director Guy Ritchie adds bare-knuckle grit to the sleuth's deductive wit in his energetic portrait of SHERLOCK HOLMES.  This is no stodgy, proper gentlemens' drawing room tale, it's a Guy Ritchie film all the way!  Chock full of action spurred on by Holmes' insatiable appetite for solving mysteries, Holmes is as much a street brawler as he is a crime solver.  The familiar Holmes touchstones are present minus the previous movie cliches, enhanced by a non-glamorous look at period London that proves much more challenging and dangerous to Sherlock and his trusted friend Watson.

Robert Downey Jr. reveals a daring, darkly humorous side to Holmes — a less flash performance than his Tony Stark, but just as charming to audiences while embracing the detective's well-storied difficult personality.  Holmes is brilliant yet dysfunctional without a diabolical challenge to entertain his superior intellect.  Unlike prior incarnations as in Basil Rathbone's erudite but arid turn, Downey's man seeks sport beyond intellectual gymnastics between cases, and in true Ritchie fashion Holmes tests his combat skills by street boxing thugs.  Yet such bouts are not just action fodder, they reveal Holmes' ever-rational approach to problem solving — in this case, methodically dismantling his brutish opponent like precision clockwork.  Indeed, Downey's Holmes is mad as he should be, but in all aspects of his life, method reigns behind his seemingly self-destructive anarchy.

While Holmes may catch criminals and solve baffling mysteries to bring order from London's grimy chaos, he can barely function without his partner in criminology Dr. John Watson, played ably and amiably by Jude Law.  Splitting from most of Holmes film history, Law's Watson is no bumbling sidekick, no inept cohort nor a passive chronicler of Sherlock's exploits.  Watson, perhaps depicted younger here than any major adaptation, is quite the ladies man, yet devoted to just one lady, his fiancee Mary (effectively played by Kelly Reilly).  Indeed, John is about to break up his partnership with Sherlock to start his new married life, which layers tensions between the trio nicely as plot complications arise.  Though Watson finds it harder to leave behind their exciting exploits than he does Holmes' most irritating habits, such as bedeviling Watsons' dog with his daft experiments.  Ritchie excels at telling buddy stories while avoiding the American genre's tired cliches, and the pairing of Downey and Law extend the winning streak.

Likewise, Ritchie is never satisfied with a merely triangular equation when he can add a fourth dimension to raise the stakes, and thus Irene Adler returns in Sherlock's life.  The attractive American adventuress is reportedly the only opponent ever to defeat Holmes, and did so twice.  Though comely Rachel McAdams certainly fits the bill above, Irene serves well as a sexual foil for Holmes but disappoints slightly in her larger role as a plot functionary, working an angle on the current mystery to reveal a darker threat in the shadows (i.e. laying foundation for a sequel).  While Holmes and Adler run in nearly perpetual conflict and enjoyably so, her presence inevitably points forward to a future adventure rather than fulfilling the current plot. 

Holmes fans familiar with the BBC's adaptation starring the late Jeremy Brett will no doubt recognize missed opportunities for Irene in this story.  As importantly as Irene Adler stands in Holmes mythology, she is the weak link in Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg's script. Co-producer Lionel Wigram conceived this updating of Holmes as a graphic novel, but since it's yet to be published, we can't judge whether Adler was intended for a larger role.   The facts stand alone: the script skimps on her central importance on Holmes' lonely life, and a better developed Irene would have elevated HOLMES another notch.

Fortunately a mysterious case propels the story without sidelining the character play, and Mark Strong makes an imposing if ultimately undercut villain.  As Lord Blackwood, he opens the film defeated by Holmes' incisive mind, but his surrender quickly proves just an opening gambit in their ongoing death match. As supernaturally inspired murders continue after Blackwood's incarceration, a darker force reveals its influence on events, forcing Holmes to continue deciphering a mystery he's already credited for solving.  Irene appears to be at the heart of the conundrum, but how do such dark deeds perpetuate after Blackwood's execution?  The game is afoot in true Sherlockian fashion, with Downey and Law proving they are devilishly, delightfully up to the task! Of course, it wouldn't be Holmes without Inspector Lestrade, and thankfully the script gives him a break from his typically bumbling caricature while Eddie Marsan enlivens the role with suitably modest dignity.  To this point, casting is uniformly excellent from the leads to supporting actors, perpetuating Ritchie's track record for sublimely delicious ensemble work.

Kudos as well to director of photography Philippe Rousselot and production designer Sarah Greenwood for grounding HOLMES in a solid period simulacrum of latter 19th century London.  The film looks sumptuously detailed without being showy costume drama (hail costumer Jenny Beavan for efforts accordingly), and is filled with action and intrigue without devolving into mindless kinetics.  Hans Zimmer's equally unpretentious original score, a subtle and strident force of violins leading the way in streetwise style, further anchors the tale in London's seedier levels while providing light humor when it fits Sherlock's antics.

Guy Ritchie's specifically British film cred makes him a wise choice to endow Sherlock Holmes with a modern edge while retaining his vintage perspective and irascible personality.  Downey puts some effort to dial down his innate on-screen charm, as Holmes is often an unlikeably edgy persona, cold and calculating by nature.  His intentionally created aloof distance from humanity is what makes him the archetypal observer and dissector of human weakness and vice.  Together, Ritchie and Downey have forged a difficult but enticing Holmes which, like IRON MAN's Tony Stark, could lead franchise trilogies through the next decade (if Downey doesn't retire as threatened).  Law's Watson embodies the bonus upgrade to this detecting duo and his sparring chemistry with Holmes fits Ritchie's rough-and-tumble sensibility like a glove, and likewise guarantees a feature reunion.  As the story posits, Holmes would self-destruct without Watson, and the good doctor cannot abandon the walking wounded of Sherlock's intellect-bound solitude.

While SHERLOCK HOLMES is an entertaining, promising start along the trail of clues, an ever greater mystery surely awaits ahead.  Get in on the ground floor now and enjoy the adventure, then buckle up for Holmes' gravest nemesis who lurks in the near future.  The franchise is afoot, and its success is elementary.