PG-13, 128 min.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Michael Robert
Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg, Lionel Wigram, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
(characters)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr.,
Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan, Robert Maillet, Geraldine
James, Kelly Reilly, William Houston, Hans Matheson, James Fox, William Hope
The new big screen franchise
of “Sherlock Holmes” is just that. It’s big. It’s bombastic. It turns Sherlock
into more of an action hero than a sleuth. Yet, it still works. I can’t help
but think that without Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, this movie would
just be a big stinking pile of action crap. Downey, however finds a way to make
his action hero version of Holmes just quirky and dysfunctional enough to
remain an interesting hero. Jude Law works the charm pretty heavy as Watson as
well.
I liked this movie when I
saw it in theaters despite myself. It lacks the subtle intelligence of most
successful versions of Holmes, yet it’s so much fun, you just can’t help but
have a good time watching it. Watching it again, it was still a thrilling ride.
I don’t think it would hold up under multiple viewings held much closer
together than every four years, however. Downey sleuths by cleverness rather
than actual detection. He couldn’t deduce anything any other way here from all
the punches he has to dodge and explosions he must shelter himself from.
Still Guy Ritchie’s
direction keeps everything moving fast enough that the audience has little more
time to stop and think about anything than the characters do. This is a version
that succeeds mostly on the charm of the players. It’s hard to imagine that any
other group of actors could muster enough to make this work, but they nailed it
with the casting, so there you go.
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