The New Holmes: Sherlock Holmes Review

Happy New Year everyone!

I think I will start out 2010 reviewing Sherlock Holmes, the newest take on the classic tale of the brilliant English detective.

To sum this movie up, I dissect it into three parts: The dialogue, The action, and The overall story.

First, the speaking parts in this movie are clever, but they do get old fast. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson bring the sarcasm to the tenth degree. It does get old very fast, and I expected more with the brilliance of the dialogue within the orignial Sherlock Holmes tales. One can only take so much crass sarcasm in a faux British accent.

Downey Jr's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is different from the Holmes we know from the book series. Downey Jr's Holmes is scruffier and less gentlemanly than his literature counterpart. This may turn some fans of the original book off, but I enjoyed this version of Holmes. After all, you have to get a bit dirty doing the work that Holmes does on a daily and nightly basis.

The action sequences in the movie are very entertaining. This movie introduces a slow-motion sequence where Holmes breaks down exactly what he is going to do to the villain within the fight, while performing the actions in a slow-motion. The only problem is when, directly after, the scene is replayed at normal speed. This type of action sequence highlighted Holmes' ability to quickly deduce ways to neutralize attackers with a variety of strategic hits. I felt the replay at normal speed after we had already seen what Holmes did to his opponent was unnessicary. Luckily this filming technique is only used a few times.

Finally, the overall story was one that can be a bit hard to follow. Due to its incorporation of black magic and the supernatural with Holmes' logic and scientific deduction, the plot can leave the viewer scratching their head at the end. Although there are many explanations as to how Holmes' eventually solves the mystery of Lord Blackwood's (a great villain, I may ad) powers and saves London from terror, the storyline fits together well and provides for an entertaining watch. Downey Jr. and Law clash as either could be the hero in this film, but they work well together when it counts. In the end, Watson and Holmes fight valiantly together, but once again we see Holmes taking the forefront and figuring out Blackwood's devious plot, and explaining it to Watson, as we would read in an original Holmes tale.

The story is left open with a mention of Professor Moriarty at the end of the movie, and it gave it a sort of Batman Begins feeling, where the Joker was mentioned at the end to leave room for a sequel. I would most likely see a sequel to see how Professor Moriarty would be represented, as he is one of the greatest villians in all of literature.

I'm going to give Sherlock Holmes a B+.