Sherlock Holmes Review [2]

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 12.28.2009

Guy Ritchie's film is the best nineteeth-century action bromance of the year...but how does it stack up outside that narrow genre?

Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Written by: Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham & Simon Kinberg

Starring:
Robert Downey, Jr. - Sherlock Holmes
Jude Law - Dr. John Watson
Rachel McAdams - Irene Adler
Mark Strong - Lord Henry Blackwood
Kelly Reilly - Mary Morstan
Eddie Marsan - Inspector Lestrade
Hans Matheson - Lord Coward



Running Time: 128 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some startling images and a scene of suggestive material

In 1887, a short story appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual, a paperback magazine published yearly in London. That story was entitled "A Study in Scarlet" and would eventually place the 1887 edition of the magazine among the most rare and collectible magazine issues ever published, because it gave us the first ever story involving Sherlock Holmes. Created by Scottish author and physician Arthur Conan Doyle, the eccentric but brilliant consulting detective would become, over the course of four novels, fifty-six short stories and a century of readers, one of the most famous fictional characters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It comes as no surprise then that Holmes, along with his friend and biographer Dr. John Watson, would find his way to film. Holmes has been the subject of over 220 separate depictions in movies and television, and played by seventy-five different actors. Luminaries on that list include Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Nicol Williamson, Christopher Plummer, John Neville, John Barrymore and Nicholas Rowe. The newest star to join that list is none other than Robert Downey Jr., who thanks to Guy Ritchie's new interpretation of the hero has the opportunity to add to Holmes's record of the most portrayed movie character in history.

Ritchie's film stars Downey as the titular character and Jude Law as Dr. Watson. As the film opens, the two Londoners have been partners for quite some time and live in the same building at 221B Baker Street. Holmes is the very essence of a bohemian eccentric, spending his time when he isn't on a case experimenting with new ideas, trying out inventions of his own design or doing battle in boxing matches with his knowledge of bartitsu. At the same time he is an extreme introvert and seems unable to maintain normal conversations with most individuals with the exception of Watson, who very much understands him. Watson is looking at moving onto a normal life of his own though, as he intends to engage himself to his sweetheart Mary Morstan (Reilly), much against Holmes's wishes despite the fact that the detective has yet to even meet her. All of this is thrust aside when Holmes's and Watson's last case together, the apprehension of the villainous Lord Blackwood (Strong), takes a seemingly supernatural route. Blackwood is executed but returns from the dead in order to carry out his plans for England. The case takes a stranger route when Irene Adler (McAdams), the only woman to ever outsmart Holmes, returns to his life and gets involved with the case. Holmes and Watson must stop Blackwood and the increasingly wide conspiracy around him, deal with Adler, come to terms with each other and suffer the efforts of Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade (Marsan) to solve the crime when he's usually just getting in their way.

In updating Sherlock Holmes for a 2009 audience, producer Lionel Wigram envisioned a very different detective than has been portrayed on screen before. Wigram noted that Conan Doyle would often refer to action that had taken place off-screen and thought the action would make for a dynamic film version, especially with Holmes's bohemian ways. To that end he hired screenwriters Anthony Peckham (Invictus), Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and newcomer Michael Robert Johnson. The trio of writers created a script which, while certainly focusing more on action than previous incarnations, doesn't leave out the detection abilities of the famous detective. In this version of the story, Holmes's skills at observation seem almost as much of a curse as they do a blessing. They are almost preternatural in scope, allowing him to make a few quick glances around the room and discern clues that will help him solve the mysteries he encounters. But in a dinner scene at a restaurant, the many observations which come to him almost crowd in like voices on a schizophrenic. It makes for a more interesting Holmes than might otherwise be the case.

Some of the leaps in deduction seem gimmicky with how far-fetched they are. It is not difficult to make a detective seem like a genius when you are in control of the entire setting; you simply take the conclusion and litter the facts around for your detective to find. Some of the situations do seem to stretch this boundary a bit but they never truly break them to the point that disbelief cannot be suspended that far. Meanwhile, they set up the plot nicely and crate a mystery that it is easy for the viewer to follow along with and guess at while Holmes and Watson do the same. Whether the end result is easily arrived at or not may depend on the individual viewer, but it is not so obvious as to be quickly guessed at outside of a few details. The story keeps the plot moving along at the same time as it strongly establishes the friendship between Holmes and Watson. That friendship could perhaps be described as the first "bromance," a phrase Conan Doyle would likely scoff at. The dynamic between the two echoes several of those style of movies though, from Clerks to Lethal Weapon. It gives it a style that modern audiences can relate to, and the way the two characters are written is effective.

With the writers providing the outline for characterization, the actors do their parts nicely to fill them in for the most part. Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as Holmes has been compared by some to Johnny Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and that comparison is not an entirely invalid one. Downey plays Holmes as every bit the eccentric that Sparrow is, though Holmes's exploits and strangeness are more cerebral for the most part. Deeper than the surface though is the fact that both actors seem to walk right along the line of "over the top." With Downey, it is the actor's innate charm that allows the character to work in situations that would otherwise be dreary; one scene involves him playing the violin and noting that flies he has caught individually inside a glass cylinder move a certain way when he plays a particular style. The scene is meant to show Holmes's ego and his fascination with making order out of chaos, but it is unnecessary as we've seen it more than once by this point. Only Downey's charisma makes it seem like less of a drag than it is. In truth, one could make a strong comparison between Holmes and Mel Gibson's Riggs from Lethal Weapon…both are very dangerous and unpredictable, but have a method to their madness and when the story gets past the point of making Holmes eccentric, Downey lights up the screen. He also sports an accent that, unless one is a dedicated linguist, is nearly flawless. Holmes may not be Downey's best performance, but it stands alongside Tony Stark as one he seems to have had the most fun with and that sense is infectious into the viewer.

In contrast to Downey, Jude Law has a more mannered and methodical approach to his performance as the more straight-laced Watson. Clearly, Holmes is the meatier role but Watson's is the more challenging, as he must act as the bridge between the detective's strange ways and the real world. In Law you can see a deep admiration and yes, even brotherly love for Holmes; you can also see his self-appointed sense of duty toward keeping the man grounded. At the same time there is something more that the good Doctor wants out of life, and he is torn between his loyalty to a lifelong partner and friend and his own satisfaction in life and Law carries that balance ably. Law and Downey have a wonderful chemistry between them, one that carries this movie through any weak point. The buddy cop bromance was mentioned earlier, but it's undeniable when one looks at the two characters; it is simply a wonderful dynamic and a joy to watch when Law and Downey are both on the screen.

The supporting cast more or less works. In the role of the villain, Mark Strong plays mannered yet sinister well; British thespian Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky, Hancock) is exactly what Holmes fans would expect in the sallow, single-minded and almost brutish Inspector Lestrade. As Mary Morstan, Kelly Reilly is a solid and reliable love interest for Holmes. She puts more into the thankless role than it deserves and lifts it by doing so.

The only actor whose performance seems to suffer in the film is Rachel McAdams. Adler's characterization is a bit shallow, but McAdams—who normally lights up the screen—plays it a bit too casually and the chemistry between her and Downey just doesn't ever click. She provides an important bridge between Holmes and another character that is not so prominent in this one but will sure figure in the next one. As such, it was important to have her in the film, but McAdams just can't seem to stay on the level of Downey, Law and the rest of the cast.

The film is, as mentioned before, much more of an action film than any Holmes story has ever been, and a lot of that has to be due to the influence of director Guy Ritchie. Ritchie has gained quite a following for his films based in Britain's crime world, from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and RocknRolla to Snatch and Revolver, and he certainly has earned his reputation among fans and detractors for his distinctive style which sometimes overshadows substance. There are moments of that in Holmes, such as the use of extensive slow-motion when the detective plots out in his head how he will attack a foe before actually landing the blows. An explosion toward the end of the second act is punctuated by Ritchie's obsession with cool, but in other scenes he keeps it toned down. He certainly creates a wonderful image of London in the late nineteenth century, with gritty sets and a wonderful CGI Tower Bridge that is half-built. Of course, the second the bridge is shown one can feel that an action moment will occur, and in fact it does though Ritchie handles it well without too much flair.

This is perhaps Ritchie's most restrained piece, though by no means is it subtle and layered. Ritchie takes the time to establish characters, but once that is done he moves it along almost too quickly. It's as if he realizes that his lead character needs to be brilliant and figure it out before everyone else, so he moves so quick that the viewer won't be able to keep up. The plot ties up entirely too quickly in the end, and the franchise potential is definitely in your face as Holmes's greatest enemy is ever-present but never fully seen. Ritchie has a long way to go before he will even be mentioned in the same breath as the top echelon of film directors working today, but he may just be maneuvering himself toward the right path at last.

The 411: In director Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, the inestimable detective and his friend and professional partner have become the lead characters in an 1800's buddy cop film, a la Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour. As strange as it is to say, that works quite well for the majority of the movie, thanks to the profound chemistry between Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. The two make a wonderful Holmes and Watson, even if the detective is a bit too quirky at times and the supporting cast is very good with the unfortunate exception of Rachel McAdams as a somewhat bland Irene Adler. Ritchie lets his directorial efforts fall into his tradition style over substance from time to time but keeps things restrained for the most part. The end result is a movie that updates Holmes well for a modern, franchise-driven audience and a very good, though somewhat flawed, action-mystery.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]