Sherlock Holmes

Directed by: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Robert Downy Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams

Guy Ritchie is a director who loves fight scenes, explosions, drugs, gambling, quick British wit, and guns. Yet his films are so smart, so cheeky, so understatedly hilarious, that I am always charmed into loving them.

The classic Sherlock Holmes has of course been re-vamped here, with Robert Downey Jr. playing Holmes, and Jude Law as Watson.

Watch the way Downey commands this role, physically. He uses not only his voice and facial expressions, but his whole body. Every movement, even the most subtle, is a deliberate choice. Of course, one could hardly expect less of the man who played the title role in Chaplin (1992).

I haven't read the Sherlock Holmes books in years (though maybe I would have if I had pictured Watson as anything looking anything like Jude Law). I do, however, remember The Hound of the Baskervilles and the dissection of seemingly supernatural events by the calculating and rational Holmes, a theme which is revisited here. The mystery is, of course, inconsequential. We don't really care who did it or why, it simply serves the purpose of providing the witty dialogue and fast-paced action scenes, though there are quite a few surprising pay-offs when we learn how the mystery unravels.

This is a purely fun movie. There's some smart, very witty dialogue and the action sequences are stylish and interesting, especially when we hear Holmes planning out his method of attack before hand. Don't expect this to take you back to cozy nights reading the classic Sherlock Holmes books, but it's interesting to see Ritchie take his usual story of London gang-life and apply it to Holmes' times. If you like Guy Ritchie, I expect you'll enjoy this latest film of his.