Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Sherlock Holmes

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast: Robert Downey, Judd Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

Summing Up, Up Front - Sherlock Holmes:

Ritchie and the red-hot Robert Downey team up to "pimp-up" the old Sherlock Holmes character. Does it work? Not really. Instead of the thinking-Holmes, we get the two-fisted version that is entertaining, but somewhat of a let down.

Sherlock Holmes has been around seemingly forever and the character has been nearly done to death by any number of filmmakers and actors. What the Ritchie/Downey team decides to do is to go strong on the action and sort of throw-out much of the real appeal of Holmes -- his penetrating mind. Yes, Holmes' brilliance is still there, but it gets almost completely concealed by the ramped-up action sequences. Don't get me wrong, I didn't go in expecting the talking-head treatment, but a lot got lost along the way.

The film starts off with a wonderful action sequence of the dynamic duo of Holmes and Watson busting up a cultish ceremony, led by the nefarious Lord Blackwood (Strong), all by themselves as the authorities arrive just in time for mop up duty.

After this initial romp, Holmes (Downey) retreats into a spiral of self-absorption as this Holmes seems totally focused on some higher level of esoteric and intellectual pursuits combined with several forms of debauchery, but is this masking some real, yet undisclosed, source of emotional angst underneath? Perhaps it is a love lost? Perhaps it is just a scintillating mind caught up in the hum-drum and banality of daily life? Perhaps it is the fact his team of two is being broken up as Dr. Watson (law) intends to get married?

Whatever it is, it almost immediately takes a back seat as the man they apprehended in the opening sequence is given the death sentence, but miraculously Lord Blackwood re-appears intent on wreaking as much havoc as he can even after he has had the sentence carried out to its fullest extent. The only thing standing in his way is the team of Holmes and Watson.

Somehow, Irene (McAdams), the woman Holmes is seemingly pining for, gets intertwined with the scheme and ultimately ends up adding a third dimension to the team. She just also happens to be the only person to get the best of Holmes on a repeated basis.

Ritchie and Downey's Sherlock Holmes is a whole lot of sound and fury and the strength of the Holmes character really seems to get lost in all the action sequences. Don't get me wrong; Ritchie is plenty inventive and Downey has an amazing amount of charisma, but I think the scales in this movie tipped too far towards expressing Holmes in action rather than Holmes as the man of thought. Judd Law does get a juicy role of pumping up the usually stodgy Dr. Watson. Rachel McAdams, as lovely as she is, seems miscast in this role. I can imagine the studio pressuring Ritchie into casting someone who can appeal to the young U.S. lads, but I can't imagine that a true British actress might have been a better fit.

The action scenes are marvelous as Ritchie speeds up and slows down the action to give us Holmes perspective of the action. The pace is relentless as the story speeds along, but mercifully Ritchie gives us breaks for levity along the way.

This version of Sherlock Holmes is sure to please the action-hungry crowd which likes it's meat tough and a bit raw, but I was left wanting a more refined and palatable meal.