Sherlock Holmes

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are no Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. They're no Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. They are certainly no Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman. No, this is NOT your grandfather's Sherlock Holmes. This is Holmes as an action star. And it works.

The film begins with Holmes and Watson foiling some sort of occult sacrifice ceremony by the evil Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). Blackwood is captured and sentenced to hang for the murders he previously committed. Blackwood warns Holmes that the grave will not stop him and that three more will die and there's nothing Holmes can do about it.

As the days pass before Blackwood's execution, Holmes gets bored. He's also worried about losing his partner Dr. Watson (Jude Law) to marriage. For weeks Holmes avoids meeting Watson's fiance Mary (Kelly Reiley). When he finally does, she makes the mistake of asking him to see what he can tell about her by merely observing her. It's a great scene.

In the meantime, Holmes old nemisis Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) returns to hire Holmes to find a red-headed midget. Holmes quickly realizes Adler is working for someone else as part of a much bigger scheme. Lord Blackwood is reported to have been seen walking around very much alive. A investigation of his grave reveals a red-headed midget inside his coffin. The game is afoot!

Based on Characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Story by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson

Screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg

Directed by Guy "I Used to Be Married to Madonna" Ritchie

Lord Blackwood's last request before he is hung is to have a talk with Sherlock Holmes.

Robert Downey Jr. is convincing playing Holmes as a combination of intellectual giant and action star. In a recall to the original novels, he shows his skills at amateur boxing as well as martial arts. Confident in his own abilities, resentful at Watson for abandoning him, Downey also shows a nice vulnerability in his scenes with Irene Adler, "the only woman to have bested Sherlock Holmes TWICE." Sadly, while Downey has a semi-nude scene tied to a bed with nothing but a pillow for cover, the fetching McAdams reveals nothing but a talent for acting. Pity.

McAdams ("Mean Girls", "State of Play", "Time Traveler's Wife") delivers a strong performance as Adler, showing off smarts, seductiveness,  and the toughness the role demands.

Jude Law is okay as Watson. His brotherly distain for Holmes is different enough from Ben Kingsley's as Watson's distain for Holmes in "Without a Clue" to give the character a new angle, but Watson is in fact probably the least interesting character in the film. Not sure why but there doesn't seem to be a lot of chemistry between Law and Downey.

Go see this film. I am Senor Sock. Do as I say.

The film and 19th century London looks very good, helped by a LOT of fog in some scenes. Guy Ritchie comes through with his first non-R rated film to create an action packed reimagining of the Sherlock Holmes story that is full of good humor, fun action sequences and a fairly decent story. The writers did a great job paying homage to the iconic Holmes items--his love for disguises, his pipe, his violin, 221B Baker Street, Mrs. Hudson--without getting bogged down in adding every Holmes signature. Some of the explanations of how Blackwood is able to do some of the things he does are a bit far fetched, but not so far out as to ruin the movie.

The film never shortchanges the audience, even while setting up the sequel, as Holmes wants to find out more about the mysterious man who hired Adler and engineered the whole thing: a man known as Professor Moriarity!

The game is afoot!!!