a flashy detective but London is the real focus

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2010)

According to my humble opinion the hero of this movie is the city of London, during Victorian or Edwardian times.The contradictions of prosperous clubs and industrial squalor, the affluence of the elite and the plight of the masses, all that in the canvas of the grey misty London sky and the amazingly alive if unclean river Thames form a very strong picture in the mind of a foreign viewer as myself.
Truly the protagonist Holmes is of a more alternative version than the usually conservative English gentleman portrayed. He has an affair with a girl that is openly having illegal activities- is actually an international criminal- although a charming one.
He gives rational explanations to the magical phaenomena of the movie- although I find them far-fetched and unconvincing- i liked the magical explanation better. He has marvellous powers of observation and stops a plot to overcome the British Empire- which is of course completely unbelievable in itself- as if a quack magician could hold sway over the mother of parliaments.
Watson is the dependable Englishman, the sturdy English yeoman and is finely portrayed by Jude Law.Also MacAdams the actress plays with charm and gusto the seductive criminal whose love for Holmes makes her betray the criminal mastermind who controls her.
Still, the most impressive feature is London: multifaceted, ubiquitous, rotten, foggy, splendid, dirty, miserable, inspiring, all at the same time.