Sherlock Holmes
Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Monday, 21, Dec 2009 08:57
Directed by Guy Ritchie, out December 26th in cinemas, starring Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Mark Strong, Rachel McAdams, Kelly Reilly, running time 128 mins.
What's it all about?
In a reimagining of sorts from Guy Ritchie, Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr) and his trusted - but departing - ally Dr Watson (Law) employ a combination of piercing logic and powerful fists to undo the dastardly Lord Blackwood (Strong), whose supernatural schemes threaten all England.
As an example...
"Why's the only woman you ever cared about a world-class criminal?" - Dr Watson
"At least they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." - Sherlock Holmes on Scotland Yard
What the others say
"The pace rarely slackens throughout, the set pieces are explosive, the score relentlessly thunderous. Victorian London is recreated - relying on copious use of computer effects - with an eye for the grimy reality." - Marc Lee, Telegraph
"Sherlock Holmes isn't even a magnificent mistake. It's just a film that makes you hanker after Ritchie's back catalogue. Snatch included." - Catherine Shoard, Guardian
So is it any good?
"Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police." - A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Viewers of Guy Ritchie's take on Sherlock Holmes would be well advised that, prior to a viewing, they should forget their ingrained perceptions of Sherlock Holmes as a deerstalker-clad gentleman, sucking on a pipe and verbally jousting with his portly companion Dr Watson. While the ever watchable Robert Downey Jr is in charming and thoughtful form as the most famous resident of Baker Street, this is not the silhouetted Holmes enshrined in the British psyche but the troubled, bored misanthrope of Conan Doyle's above quotation. Accept this fact - and the lack of even a desultory "Elementary, my dear Watson" from the script - and despite a plot that strays more into comic book than Conan Doyle territory, Sherlock Holmes is an immensely enjoyable Christmas blockbuster.
Fearing the worst for Holmes might have been justified; Ritchie's track record has been decidedly patchy since Snatch, Downey Jr's a tremendous actor but still unavoidably American and talk of a "badass" detective left devotees clutching their tweed in horror. But Downey Jr's entirely correct to remark that what could have been a "bad Guy Ritchie idea" is instead central to the film's success. As Holmes relaxes with some bare-knuckle boxing in a gritty pub called the Punch Bowl -a nod to Ritchie's own Mayfair alehouse - we face the sequence by which the entire film stands or tumbles. And it works, smartly marrying the cerebral and physical facet of the character. Ritchie's unmistakable editing style, a breathless clash of super slo-mo and dizzying crash zooms, is combined superbly with Holmes' cut-glass tones analysing his assailant's weak points and anticipating the best use of his animal strength.
Just as successful is the interplay between Downey Jr and Law, with the partnership portrayed on a more equal footing than we've seen in previous outings. Downey Jr employs the same 'wasted genius' sighs as in his portrayal of Tony Stark, while his dilated pupils and dishevelment do a fine job of conveying Holmes' narcotic experimentation without making such explicit reference to seven per cent solution as to risk the PG rating. There's the chemistry of an old married couple between his Holmes and Law's Watson, with the script allowing for naturalised, sparky back-and-forths, and Law holding his own against his professionally ascendant co-star. It's a testament to their dynamic that the film's pacing lags painfully whenever they're off screen, with Mark Strong too much of a pantomime villain to fully captivate.
Strong's Lord Blackwood is also the fulcrum for the film's greatest weakness - its plot. There are so many plus points about Sherlock Holmes - its viable, grimy 1890s London, coquettish support from Rachel McAdams and Kelly Reilly, combat scenes shot with the theatricality of an Errol Flynn outing - that it's a great shame a stronger plot couldn't be drawn from the peerless source material. Instead, we're left with an overly complex occult theme, and a global conspiracy angle more redolent of Dan Brown than Conan Doyle. This is not the mystery of refined and chaste intrigue that you might expect but a rather a schlocky pot-boiler.
Aside from its convoluted plot, this remains a fine event movie, bringing fresh life to an iconic character thanks to performances brimming with wit and adding enough gunpowder to its action sequences to keep audiences captivated. Fears of a kung-fu Holmes were ill-founded and there's ample room for a sequel, with Moriarty's shadowy presence likely to be expanded, possibly by brad Pitt.
Ritchie, meanwhile, could recover some of the lustre lost from his career through misfires and marriage to the Material Girl. He's revealed as a director still capable of fine work, marrying excellent production design, startling sound and quickfire imagery.
7/10
Lewis Bazley