When Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson apprehend a criminal mastermind Lord Blackwood and see him sent to the gallows, they think that will be the last of him. So it is somewhat surprising when Blackwood apparently rises from the grave, and Holmes must put his incredible intellect and deductive ability to good work trying to stop more deaths.
I had very mixed feelings when I first saw the trailer for this movie. It seemed far more sensationalist and Hollywood action film than I would have expected from the Victorian genius. However, it did look like an entertaining film, so I wasn't certain.
The result was far more pleasing than I had hoped, though, and I was thoroughly glad that I went to see the film, even while it was, in some ways as sensationalist and Hollywood action film as I had feared. None of my specific concerns turned out to be a reality, and I was instead confronted with a film that kept much of the spirit of the old Victorian hero, while giving him new life and breaking away from the fastidious old man character that populated the previous dramatisations.
In terms of plot, there is a great amount of interest and pleasant non-linearity to the Holmes plot. I didn't find it overly predictable, and I found each explanation and forward movement very well carried out. Holmes' ability to deduce facts from minimal information is as legendary as I remember from the stories, and each step left me with the same frustration that I remember Watson feeling when Holmes made jumps that no others would have been able to reach.
The mood was dramatic, but it kept enough of the intrigue you would expect of a Holmes movie so that it wasn't too cheesy (not to say it was never cheesy, because it was... but entertainingly so, rather than cringingly so). The film doesn't attempt to be too spooky, which would have detracted from Robert Downey Junior's curt and forthright Holmes. Visually, the film was stunning and very well set up and choreographed, from fight scenes to simple scenes of Holmes being eccentric in the comfort of his own, rather disorderly, home.
I think what made this film, however, was the acting. Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law do a fantastic job as the duo of Holmes and Watson, and the supporting cast around them are equally as brilliant. Downey Jr acts the true British upper class eccentric, smoking his pipe and approaching all problems with wild-eyed enthusiasm as he searches for puzzles that will challenge him. Watson, long-suffering friend of Holmes, does well at dealing with tiresome Holmes, and acting as foil, comic relief and sidekick at different moments. The other characters are equally as well-acted, from Rachel McAdams getting her 'feist' on, to the incompetent police inspector and the varied antagonists that appear throughout the film.
Put it all together, and I got an amusing (occasionally hilarious), high-budget action film, with a very good central plot-string, superb acting and an excellent soundtrack. My main criticisms would revolve around the silliness of many of the plot elements. Don't see this film if you like your movies to be rigorously historically and scientifically accurate. I also wasn't too happy with the obvious cue-for-a-sequel moment at the end, but I supposed we must let Hollywood have these things.
I can imagine that Holmes has polarised opinions somewhat, between those who think that it's a brilliant direction to take the old franchise, and those that think it's a travesty. I'm firmly in the former column, so if you still cling to the belief that Holmes should be a stately, decorous and cleanly old gentleman with a magnifying glass and a few minor eccentricities, perhaps you will not enjoy this film as much as I did. However... you might be surprised.
To everyone else, go and see Holmes, and you probably won't regret it, if you've ever liked a crazy action film. This is crazier than most, and more entertaining than most.
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