A new conception of Sherlock Holmes

Rating: 7/10 (31 March 2020)

In this film, Sherlock Holmes and his adventure companion Dr. Watson, face the threat of a occult master who has been executed for several murders but, mysteriously, comes back to life. I confess that I am not a particular Sherlock Holmes fan. I read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales and stories and found them interesting, but I always preferred other authors. However, I decided to watch this film and give it a chance, since it is a character that is rarely seen in cinema.
I have to confess that the famous series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", from the mid-eighties, marked my way of imagining the characters. In this series, Jeremy Brett brought the detective to life in a way that, I think, is the closest to the author's original conception, and the most in line with the Victorian gentleman. This film, however, shows us a very modern Sherlock Holmes in his way of acting, speaking and behaving. The character acts like someone of our time, in a dissonant historical period, creating an anachronism. However, surprisingly, it did not affect me. I'm not a fan of anachronisms and I often criticize period films because of that, but the way this film was conceived made it acceptable.
In fact, this film is not an adaptation of any of the original books or tales, it just take advantage of the characters and creates a new story with some adventure, action and even a supernatural scent much to the Victorian taste. If this film were an adaptation of any of Conan Doyle's stories, I think the director - an unlikely Guy Ritchie - would not have that freedom.
Guy Ritchie would never be my first choice to direct a film like this. Against all my expectations, he proved to be more skilled and intelligent than in any of his other works (at least, those I know). I appreciated some of his options, like the dissonance between the period and the characters' attitudes or the use of slow motion sometimes. However, the film relies heavily on the quality and performance of the two main actors. Robert Downey Jr. is in the best moment of his career and it was a safe bet to bring a bold Holmes to life, closer to an action figure with a hint of mad genius than to a pure intellectual who analyses facts coldly. Jude Law, who brought Dr. Watson to life, is just as good and both are excellent when working together. Law's Watson, by the way, remains, as it always has been, more conventional and cautious than its companion, making a pleasant counterpoint to the main character. In the supporting cast, Mark Strong is a charismatic villain and Rachel McAdams gives additional support when its needed, but it has been largely underused.
Technically, it is a film that uses and abuses CGI, green screen, visual and sound effects of quite regular quality, without anything extraordinary. It is something common in a film designed to be a blockbuster. The action and fight scenes were well done but they are not breathtaking. The cinematography tried to be darker, perhaps as a result of our idea of Victorian London as a misty and humid city. This worked fine most of the time but there are moments when it was too much. Post-production and editing was regular and the soundtrack, by Hans Zimmer, was not as successful as many others by the same composer. At least to me, it sounded too much like a sailors song.