I imagine that if there were fanboys who were as rabid about loyalty to source material about Sherlock Holmes as there are about LOTR of Harry Potter, then they would be up in arms screaming sacrilege and decrying how this movie would make Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turn in his grave. But as it stands, there is no such group, and trickster Guy Ritchie has pulled a heist of his own by fashioning the classic character for a Guy Ritchie movie. And Holmes is perfect for this kind of treatment.
Ritchie’s always worked best when portraying the London underworld, and the Victorian setting only enhances this. Downey’s Holmes is a man tortured by his own mind and the need to solve puzzles. And oh are they set up in abundance here. Ritchie’s take on Holmes is a series of twists and turns, leading and revealing. Those familiar with the director’s gimmicks will note that it is here that they become most effective. One of my own favorite things about the film is the way that Holmes plans out his attacks and explains each of the blows before executing them.
At its heart, Sherlock Holmes is more about big action set-pieces than actual detective work. The detective work is definitely there, and through Ritchie’s stylistics and the great acting even exposition becomes exciting. But this movie is fast-paced, moving towards action and explosions, the revelations merely occasions for more action. This is by no means a complaint. This is a Sherlock Holmes engineered for a contemporary audience. We want it fast, big, spectacular.
Where the film succeeds, and where so many others fail, is despite its concessions to Hollywood and the demand of the popcorn audience, it still delivers a well-written, engaging story that doesn’t pander to its audience. Like the best of Doyle’s work, it asks us to keep guessing and to marvel at the mad detective’s methods. Downey, as usual, is captivating, and Jude Law plays Watson not just as a sidekick but as more of a foil, the thing that balances Holmes out. McAdams is her typically desirable self, and each shot makes us wish that the camera would linger a little longer on her. There aren’t many scenes for characterization, but the interactions bring out enough, in between the big action sequences.
The movie runs two hours, but you hardly feel it, and more importantly it feels like so much happens, and so much of it memorable. What better thing can I say about a movie than I look forward to watching it again.
