"It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you"
Remember this line from 'The Cardboard Box'? This seems to be the most pertinent and to the point review of the new movie Sherlock Holmes. The quick witted and masterful Holmes breaks all the shackles of his past and is reincarnated as the new Holmes, the Dark Knight of the future. He is eccentric, enigmatic and visually too cinematic to be the pipe smoking, aquiline nosed detective we all read about. The inhabitant of 221B Baker Street turns all clichéd notions upside down with his fist fights and his potent love interest in his enemy turned ally, Irene Adler. Holmes is the Iron Man who like all superheroes fights and kills his adversaries. The intriguing plot meanders heroically as its protagonists; the brave-heart Holmes and the overpowered Watson try to outwit the dark lord, Lord Blackwood whose malicious and occult crimes threaten to annihilate the peace of London.
Robert Downey Junior is brilliant in his role, he is funny and entertaining. His accent is masterful and his gait dainty. He is however a little more disheveled than expected, lurking around his room catching flies and anaesthetizing Watson's dog. But his mental acumen is strong, his reflective brain, his ability to deduce a person's character from the minuscule details brings to mind the character of the dear old Holmes. However his colleague Dr. Watson seemed at times more potent than him, solving riddles in a jiffy, romanticizing and even overshadowing Holmes at some parts. Jude Law is an actor par excellence and he has used his skill to the best of his ability thereby creating a made over Dr. Watson whom I simply loved. The colleagues share a fantastic bond; they are the ideal made for each other couple. In those grimy and grumpy scenes of slaughterhouse blood, dirty alleys and soiled laboratory, it is obviously the fantastic bond between these two that win over audiences with its charm.
Irene Adler who is first mentioned in 'The Scandal in Bohemia' and who is possibly the love interest of our old Holmes is resurrected here. She is a charming young lady of style, class and brawn. We never know if Mr. Holmes really loved her since "All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind." But in the cinema the emotion of love is more potent and discreet. They kiss and hug yet they always engage in a battle of wits. Holmes has the picture of Adler (the one mentioned in 'The Scandal in Bohemia') and he seems to adore and admire the lady. Rachel McAdams looks good in all the scenes but there is a missing ingredient in her chemistry with Holmes. They don’t look like a great match, even though they try hard to portray the perfection, they just don’t seem to hit it. As for the other characters, Mark Strong as Lord Blackwood is both sinister and perfect. He combined the villainous instincts of a gentleman with great dexterity.
The storyline of the movie is admirable. The plot is fabulous and will leave you agog. One will definitely not find the flair of Conan Doyle, but he will surely enjoy the twists and turns. The cinematography is brilliant. The gloomy London skies cast a gray shadow in the movie. The movie has a dearth of color and the sequences are frenetic, fast and slow paced at the same time. The soundtrack is soothing, a little Irish but good to ears.
Overall, the movie was a brilliant and innovative experiment for director Guy Richie. The peppy Sherlock Holmes does look marvelous on screen yet somehow he lacks the appeal and the wisdom of the stereotyped Holmes and becomes a usual Guy Richie creation, perhaps just another extraordinary antihero.
