Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes

Images: Alex Bailey © 2008 Warner Bros. Ent. Inc.

I've never really liked Sherlock Holmes. Sure, I liked - and still like - 1939's THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and a few of the other movies starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, but I guess that's because they're so atmospheric with their foggy London sets. But to me, the character of Holmes is rather boring. A supercilious, charmless robot. It's possible I tried reading some of the books when I was a kid, but I'd never even think about reading them today.     And what about director Guy Ritchie? Nope, I've never liked him either. Everybody was so impressed by LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, but I thought it was a bit too hip for its own good, and SNATCH was even more so. I've only seen SWEPT AWAY with the sound turned off in a bar, I haven't seen REVOLVER AT ALL, and I think last year'sROCKNROLLA failed miserably in its attempt to be cool.     Somehow, I still had high expectations on Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES. Well, it has Robert Downey, Jr in the lead, and the last few years, he's become my favorite actor of his generation. And the concept felt cool: a more action oriented interpretation of Conan Doyle's rather worn hero. Okay, would it live up to my expectations?     It takes only a couple of minutes before my whole body is filled with great pleasure and I feel like shouting "Wow!" and "Yes!" simultaneously: the movie opens with Holmes, Dr. Watson (Jude Law) and some cops strike at the studied evil, Gestapo like super villain Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), who wearing a cloak hangs out in a crypt, where he's about to sacrifice a young woman on an altar. Whoa! Immediately, I felt like I've ended up in a thrilling French early 20th century dime novel! Maybe Arsène Lupin or Fantomas. Or in a graphic novel by Jaques Tardi. It's incredibly good looking and atmospheric.

    Blackwood is arrested and hanged, but it doesn't take long till he's suddenly back from the dead. Very strange. 19th century slacker Sherlock Holmes has spent the last weeks in his shabby apartment, trying to invent a silencer for pistols, but Watson - who's about to get married - stomps into Holmes' place. Holmes is hired to solve the case of the resurrected Blackwood and the murders he's believed to have committed.     Sherlock Holmes is pretty damn good at martial arts and earns money participating in street fights, and during one of those, his old love interest Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) shows up. She may be a truly hot woman, but she's unreliable and seems to work for the bad guys.     This fast paced movie is a mix of just about everything: old fashioned mystery, CSI, kung fu flick, James Bond, Indiana Jones, steampunk and The DaVinci Code. For a while, I feared this would be a mastodontic mess, like WILD WILD WEST - but against all odds, Ritchie's movie works - and more than excellent.     Robert Downey is a marvelous hero. I've never liked Jude Law, but he's good as the limping Watson. Mark Strong as Blackwood isn't that fun, but he's almost the spitting image of Andy Garcia. And then we have the wonderful Rachel McAdams, whom I'd fall in love with immediately if she popped up right here and now.

    Technically, SHERLOCK HOLMES is brilliant, with good storytelling and truly great cinematography; the final stand-off in Tower Bridge, which is under construction, is magnificent. I tried to figure out what Hans Zimmer's score reminded me of and it took a while, but then it struck me: Holy hole in a donut, it sounds just like Bruno Nicolai's score for Jess Franco's COUNT DRACULA! And it's really, really good.     Maybe a few of you won't like the fact that Holmes doesn't wear a deerstalker hat, that he's smoking a straight pipe, and that he's too active physically. But this is far from a disadvantage - on the contrary! Just like when the Joker is introduced in the form of a playing card at the end of BATMAN BEGINS, Holmes' arch enemy Moriarty is mentioned near the ending, meaning we can expect a sequel. And I sure won't mind a sequel to this!     SHERLOCK HOLMES is exciting, fun, funny and incomparably entertaining. This, and not AVATAR, is the action adventure of this winter!