Sherlock Holmes

So the good news is that Sherlock Holmes isn’t as horrid as I’d feared. In fact, it’s quite an entertaining – if forgettable – Victorian romp.

There isn’t much in the way of mystery, which is a disappointment. Guy Ritchie’s Holmes spends much more time beating people up and dodging explosions than he does deducting. The film opens with the capture of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a man who’s been dabbling in black magic and making sacrifices and whatnot, much to Scotland Yard’s chagrin. With Blackwood due to be executed, one would think that Holmes (Robert Downey Jnr) and Watson (Jude Law) deserve a bit of a rest (in fact, Watson has a permanent retirement from sleuthing planned, together with his soon-to-be fiancée, Mary (Kelly Reilly)). Unfortunately Blackwood’s diabolical scheming doesn’t end with his death, so the duo will soon find themselves embroiled in a dirty, steampunk-influenced race against time.

I’m not quite sure why modern retellings of Sherlock Holmes seem to require something extra (remember Young Sherlock Holmes, the book ‘Shadows Over Baker Street’, or the PC game ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Awakened’?) – don’t get me wrong, I like a bit of steampunk, devil worshipping and/or Lovecraft with my Victorian storytelling, however it does seem to miss the point of Conan Doyle’s creation.

The genre incursions are fine, really. Okay, so there’s a lot of action and a lot of mysticism, but the screenplay does do the characters justice. The main difference is that Holmes is a bit of a smug bastard (rather like James Bond), something which wasn’t overt in the original fiction – he was aware of his own limitations, rather than thinking himself a god amongst men. It is good to see that everyone in this film is clever, not just Holmes. All the characters seem highly intelligent and they fool Holmes more than once.

The costuming and recreation of London is fantastic. This is a really pretty film and it matches perfectly with Ritchie’s cinematic style. Hans Zimmer’s score is fantastic also – probably the best orchestral score of the year – and, of course, the performances are great. Everyone knew that Downey Jr. would make a great Holmes, and he does. Jude Law and Rachael McAdams are wonderful in their roles also. In fact the only thing lacking is the story.

Whilst watching Sherlock Holmes, I was really enjoying myself, but once it was over, there was nothing particularly memorable about it. The main problem is that it’s not very clever. There are one or two well-written moments, but apart from those, it might as well be The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Alright, so that was a bit harsh, but it is really just an action movie set in Victorian London. To top it all off, the filmmakers were waaaay too eager to let us know they wanted a sequel. It shoves the idea down our throats, actually.

Overall, Sherlock Holmes is a crowd pleasure and a well-written, nicely paced action movie. At least it proves that Guy Ritchie ha more than one good film in him. It mightn’t spit in the face of Conan Doyle per se, but it doesn’t include many of the elements that fans of the original fiction love.