A brilliant reboot.

Rating: 9/10 (5 February 2010)

Sherlock Holmes, the latest offering from Guy Richie is a pretty decent movie if I'm honest. Not at all what I expected. For the most part you don't even feel like you're watching a movie. For instance, part of the opening titles are superimposed onto cobblestones and the other part is written in a newspaper-like form. It's a pretty refreshing change.
It's pretty clear from the outset that Downey Jr. nails Holmes' accent and speech patterns. Not once do you believe the actor playing Holmes' actually has an American accent, and the same can be said for Jude Law as Watson.
Although I don't usually comment on the soundtrack of films, I do feel I should mention the soundtrack in Sherlock Holmes. Hans Zimmer's 'Discombobulate' is used at various points in the movie, most notably in the opening credits and it helps greatly in setting the scene. It's hard to imagine a better fitting score for this movie.
Although this is going to sound pretty cliché, Jude Law is on fine form here, his portrayal of Dr. Watson as both a friend of Holmes and as a professional is literally flawless, the chemistry between Downey Jr. and Law works extremely well. Mark Strong is brilliant as the movie's villain Lord Blackwood, he seems to play bad guys pretty well, he's all you could want from the 'dark side': mysterious, cunning and quite creepy. A notable highlight here for me was Rachel McAdams' portrayal of Irene Adler, a criminal and past love-interest of Holmes'. McAdams has certainly come a long way since her Mean Girls days and really shows exactly what she can do with her acting skills here.
Acting talent aside, I was pleasantly surprised when I went to my local cinema to see Sherlock Holmes. The martial arts aspect was new to me. I've never pictured Sherlock Holmes as a martial artist, but it did bring a decent helping of action to the table. There's a pretty decent helping of humour here too; the movie works surprisingly well with a small helping of comedy thrown in here and there, although there's not enough there for big laughs, it brings a certain charm to the scene.
I won't ruin any of the story in this review as I'm aware my past two reviews were a little too revealing in terms of plot details and spoilers. All I can say is if you haven't already, I would strongly recommend going to see Sherlock Holmes. There really is something there for anyone.
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