Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes
By Lauren Zima
Director Guy Ritchie has pieced together a fun action movie perfect for a family night out with Sherlock Holmes.
In this new adaptation of one of the oldest adventure series, Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and best bud Watson (Jude Law) are in hot — well, as hot as a horse and buggy can get — pursuit of murderous Lord Blackwood, who appears to have risen from the dead.
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Ritchie takes the classic stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and gives them an action-movie spin. It works. This Holmes is a bit of a playboy — he’s funny, smart and can throw a punch — but he’s still relatable; Holmes’ feminine counterpart, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), plays games with his heart. Robert Downey Jr. is, as always, excellent, though sometimes his thick accent and soft (though incredibly emphatic) voice make him hard to understand.
Watson is also now a fisticuffs kind of guy. Law and Downey Jr. have great on-screen chemistry — they expertly showcase one of the world’s first bromances. McAdams is passable, though not particularly memorable, as Adler.
Holmes will give Americans exactly what their minds picture when they think “London”: Ritchie’s set is all grays and gloom and cobblestone streets. But this movie is a fun escape, and it’s age appropriate for most, except the littlest tykes. At 2 hours and 14 minutes, it is a bit long, and the ending could have been better. But the ending also blatantly sets up for a sequel, and if that movie is as good as this one, it’ll be a sequel worth seeing.
In short, this holiday season, don’t stay home. Go see Holmes.
Vox Rating: VVVV (out of five)
Originally published Jan. 21, 2010
Photo from Warner Bros. Pictures
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