Sherlock Holmes

2009, 12, Directed by Guy Ritchie

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Rachel MacAdams, Mark Strong

It may be difficult to fathom how Guy Ritchie went from directing gritty hits Lock, Stock… and Snatch to shooting an ex-washed up Canadian actor darting about a London back-drop playing pipe-smoking and wise-cracking literary figure, Sherlock Holmes. The more attention you pay to this attempt to fathom, the more you begin to question the outcome. Which speaks volumes about the first in an inevitably long-line of screen incarnations of Holmes – of course, played by Robert Downey, Jr., who of course proves he is the only one who could have contemporarily filled this role in such a way as he does. The sheer energy he exemplifies through the barnstorming action sequences that he and pal Doctor Watson (a grounded Jude Law) are propelled into in almost every other scene is second to none, showing that he can not only multi-task successfully, but remain extremely suave and level-headed also – as if he didn’t do that enough in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man films.

As far as the plot goes, Holmes and Watson are pitted against Mark Strong’s Lord Blackwood, an evil practitioner of dark magic. As far as villains go, he emerges as a pretty tame one, compared to say, The Joker from Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. In fact, comparing the two franchises, it is clear the route Ritchie is headed for; whilst Gotham upholds a mystique of darkness, Holmes' Baker Street abode is sat in a murky London where you somehow just know everything will work out for the better. However, for all the tongue that lies firmly in cheek, there is an underlying seriousness to proceedings, which is expressed through some left-field twists. It is unfortun ate thatthe film’s ultimate undoing is the reversal of these twists, leading the film to become tiresome and, when all is said and done just a bit too cheeky: it seems as if all the characters are savvy to everything, and simply withholding the relevant information from the watchful audience - all for the sake of extending the film’s running time.

As for Rachel MacAdams’ Irene, the word that springs to mind is – quite simply – unexplored. But with heavy reliance on the often hilarious interactions between buddies Holmes and Watson  (Holmes points a sword in Watson’s face, to be told ‘get that out of my face’. Holmes' swift response? ‘It’s not in your face, it’s in my hand’), as well as welcome stylistic action, Sherlock Holmes is not the disaster many people may have expected. And with a teaser tantalisingly placed near the film’s climax, the sequel – Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – has just hit cinemas amidst plent of excitement.

3/5