Sherlock Holmes

By Lisa Anderson

If you read my article in Popshifter about previous incarnations of Sherlock Holmes, you know that I was skeptical about Guy Ritchie’s take on the timeless detective. I got the opportunity to go to an early screening this week, and was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I was blown away by how much I liked it.

Original image
© Alex Bailey/Warner Bros. Pictures

The movie opens with Holmes and Watson helping Scotland Yard capture Lord Blackwood, a nobleman who has ritually murdered five young women. Even while he’s in prison, people ascribe strange powers to Blackwood. Before his execution is carried out, Blackwood asks to speak with Holmes, and tells him that the deaths will continue. Watson serves as the attending physician when Blackwood is hanged. A few days later, Blackwood’s tomb is found cracked open, and London is gripped in terror as the murders resume.

In the midst of all of this, Holmes and Watson have problems of their own. Watson is engaged and moving out of the 221 Baker Street lodgings that he shares with Holmes, and Holmes is hurt and resentful. (This touch will delight anyone who has a pair of slash goggles, and amuse even those who don’t.) International criminal Irene Adler—the only person who ever defeated Holmes or managed to turn his head—returns to engage his services. She herself is working for another mysterious figure, and is connected to the Blackwood case.

There were many good performances in this movie. Much like his Tony Stark in Iron Man, Robert Downey, Jr.’s Holmes is moody, difficult, and brilliant—but he’s Sherlock Holmes, not Tony Stark. Downey is amazing here at commanding the audience’s laughter, irritation, or pity at will. Other reviewers have argued that Jude Law almost steals the show as John Watson, and I’d have to agree. I like the fact that his Watson is depicted as a passionate, kick-butt former soldier, and an invaluable asset to Holmes. Mart Strong’s Lord Blackwell is, in his own way, scarier than Ralph Fiennes’s Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film series.

Rachel McAdams’ Irene Adler is much stronger and more interesting than I had hoped for based on the trailer, and wears more clothes in the actual movie, too.. This made me happy, because I have liked her ever since she lent Cillian Murphy her pen in Red Eye. The romance between Adler and Holmes is not true to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s vision—many people consider Holmes asexual—but it is handled realistically, and the rest of the movie is so strong that it can be forgiven.

The best way to explain why Sherlock Holmes works is that it’s more like early Indiana Jones than like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Action and special effects are used, but they are used well. If you like to solve the case along with the detective, you’ll be disappointed, but the storyline does capture Holmes’s fierce intelligence for forensic investigation. In fairness, this is hardly the first time that Sherlock Holmes has swashbuckled on screen, 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes being a prime example.

I can’t say for certain whether the movie will please all Holmes fans. It probably won’t. After all, it was based on a graphic novel rather than on the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I was pleased, though, by how many details there were from the original stories. . . and by the way that Guy Ritchie seasoned it all with very funny, often very British humor. Ritchie leaves the door open for further installments, but I don’t consider this a bad thing.

All in all, Sherlock Holmes deserves a place in the Holmes film canon, and is a wonderful diversion for the holiday season. Happy film-going, everyone. . . and Happy Holidays!

Sherlock Holmes opens in North American on December 25.