Jeff Beck Reviews: Sherlock Holmes
Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” breathes a new energy into the character made famous in the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Many of the elements of this new vision are still the same: the same old address at 221b Baker Street, the violin, and, of course, a perplexing mystery to challenge the most famous of detectives. However, for those who know the work of Guy Ritchie, you know not to expect an average handling of the character.
The story begins with Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and his partner, Dr. John Watson (Jude Law), foiling a murder plot of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). After the case is solved, Holmes becomes rather restless what with not having a mystery to work on. On top of that, Watson is planning to get married to Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly) and move out of the Baker Street residence. However, soon after the case is solved, word comes that Lord Blackwood was seen rising from his grave. This launches a whole new mystery that involves the murders of officials, black magic, and a woman from Holmes’s past, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams).
When most people tend to think of Sherlock Holmes, they tend to think of a very slick, brilliant-thinking, low-key detective. For this film, he is still slick and quite a brilliant thinker, but he’s gone from being low-key to a man who’s not afraid to get into a fight, something he does quite often in this version. He participates in a kickboxing match of sorts, and there are even two scenes where he tells us exactly how he’s going to take an opponent down, calculating how they will react to his strategy. He then carries these strategies out, resulting in the exact endgame that he predicted.
Dr. Watson has not been left out of the round of updates. His character is also a pretty decent fighter. Though not quite on the level of Holmes, he knows how to carry on a fight for his life. Dr. Watson is probably thought most of as the character that sits back, assists when needed, and is astounded when Holmes comes up with his seemingly magical explanations.
Here, he helps Holmes quite a bit, recalling important pieces of information precisely when needed (though it’s unclear whether this is a ploy by Holmes to get him to stick around by making him feel useful or not, but it does show that he’s quite a good assistant). His part in this story is a bit personal in that he is the one who pronounced Blackwood dead after his hanging, and yet, there are the reports of his resurrection.
The mystery is quite an interesting one, one fit for the likes of Sherlock Holmes. The clues are everywhere for us to see, but, of course, it is Holmes who notices every little detail. He even says something to the effect of the little details being the most important, for indeed, they are. We get the obligatory scenes in which Holmes explains everything he has found out; things which the audience will not have noticed, but a good part of the fun comes from Holmes showing off his extraordinary intellect.
Robert Downey Jr. seems to be the actor who can play just about any role out there, the one exception that I’ve seen being him trying to take on a small role in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” He has just the right mannerisms to take on the role of Holmes. He has the quick tongue with which to rattle of the long explanations of the clues and the solutions. He simply fits the role quite well.
If there’s a weakness to be found in this new version, it would be in its villain, Lord Blackwood. He is not given nearly enough screentime to make much of an impact, nor is he particularly threatening. The most infamous of Holmes’s enemies from the stories is Professor Moriarty, a villain whose intellect is said to match that of Sherlock Holmes. Another treat of a typical Holmes mystery is watching two such intellects go head to head, but we don’t get much of a sense of that with Lord Blackwood.
There’s plenty of fun and entertainment to be had from Guy Ritchie’s take on the character from both fans of Doyle’s work and for those just getting to know Holmes and Watson. The filmmakers set up their version for a sequel, which will hopefully get made as the mystery isn’t done yet, and as Holmes and Watson demonstrate, an unsolved mystery must be dealt with.
3/4 stars.
You can read this and other reviews in my column at The Richmond Examiner.
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