Sherlock Holmes

A man, more a bundle of rags, tumbles down the 19^th century streets of London, with a horse-drawn carriage of gunmen in pursuit. The game is clearly afoot, as the figure lifts the rag clear of his face to show the familiar features of Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes.

The bright-eyed, stubbled detective disappears into the tunnels, stiffening as a nightwatchmen approaches around the corner. The scene shifts to a slow-motion imagining of plans of attack, as Holmes muses on the various impacts of blows to the solar plexus and discombobulating strikes to the ears. Having decided on his course of action, he explodes into action, pausing only to step over the resulting unconscious body.

This 21^st century revisioning of Holmes may seem rather energetic, especially when the whirling dervish of Watson (Jude Law) joins Holmes in a fistfight with the bad guys. But director Guy Ritchie is arguably only bringing the famous sleuth’s hinted off-page fighting talents to the forefront. Holmes need not opine to Watson that he can best any man in a short-stick fight when he can instead amply demonstrate it. Unlike Doyle’s rendition, Holmes has yet to exercise the martial art of baritsu against Professor Moriarty, but this film demonstrates he is more than ready to do so when the inevitable sequel rolls around.

With Downey Jr and Law, the streets are fellow stars of the film resplendent with an impressive set and CGI-based simulacrum of London’s turn-of-the-century progress and decay. The Tower Bridge, in particular, looms above much of the action in it’s semi-completed state whilst gothic architecture rubs shoulders with slummish tenements.

But behind the vigorous physicality and visual trickery, the heart of the film is the complex friendship between Holmes and Watson. There is a palpable bond between them, strained at times by Watson’s desire to marry and move out of Baker Street to his own premises. The pair are pitted against an apparently supernatural and definitely clichéd ne’er-do-well Lord Blackwood (Martin Strong). Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), both temptress and nemesis, is also a slightly less convincing character in the mix, but still an entertaining complication for Holmes as he seeks to unmask the villain with the at-times bumbling help of Inspector Lastrade (Eddie Marsan).

Given the feverish promotional trailers this is not a Holmes rendition one necessarily expects to like. But a clever screenplay and Ritchie’s unexpected talent for restraint at crucial moments delivers an exciting and strangely credible new Holmes, both accessible to new audiences and more than palatable to older fans.

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