This movie is unlike any other version of Sherlock Holmes ever made. It’s a wild ride of action, drama and comedy weaved together to create a pretty cool movie.
Plot
The movie starts off throwing you into a confusing situation in which you’re not really sure what’s going on. You meet Sherlock Holmes, played by Robert Downey Jr., as he literally plans step by step on how to defeat someone who stands in his way. Soon after Watson, played by Jude Law, shows up and the two rush to stop the evil Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) from committing another murder.
After all is said and done, we find out Watson is moving out of Holmes’ house an plans to marry a girl and start his own life. Sherlock seems a bit lost without Watson and yet still finds way to trick/convince him to tag along on his various adventures throughout the movie.
The main plot focuses on Lord Blackwood who seemingly rises from the dead and has a plan to take over England, and perhaps the world.
It’s up to Sherlock to figure out what he’s up to and put an end to it. Overall it’s quite elementary!
The Good
Pretty much everything. The costumes were really well done. The sets made me feel like I in old 1800’s England. The action is pretty good, the drama is interesting, the plot isn’t too stale (though the whole “take over England” may be a bit cliche at this point). The movie really does make you wonder if Blackwood rose from the dead via magic.
Sherlock is an interesting character and Watson plays off him to make for an interesting duo.
The Bad
Can’t really think of anything here except for the fact he never said “It’s Elementary my dear Watson.” But I’m really grasping at straws, as Sherlock never actually said that in any of the books. I can’t think of a single real bad thing to say about this movie, really.
What The?
Sherlock can be a little.. shall we say… crazy? There’s one scene where he’s got a bunch of flies trapped in a jar and he’s playing his violin for them. He claims that by using musical theory he brought order to chaos. Yeah. He’s nuts.
Overall, I say see this movie. I’ll be buying it on DVD as well.
I’d give it at least 4 out of 5.
