Sherlock Holmes: Taking names and dragging them through the mud

Rating: 4/10 (26 December 2009)

This review may seem as schizophrenic as Downey's Sherlock. As others have noted, there are reasons to like this movie and reasons to hate it.
Starting with why I hated it, this is not the Sherlock Holmes I remember. Sure the name is used but do not expect to see the quality detective story and character as done in the past. What we get instead is a distorted, cartoonish version of a great detective. The movie could have used other characters instead of Holmes and Watson. The movie would have been more appealing if it had in fact used a new pair of detectives. Ahhh, but Ritchie is going to make money thanks to the currently popular name of Robert Downey. In the meantime he gets to recreate, and even pollute the name of Holmes for the sake of opportunity, glory and money. That is even more devious than a plot from Blackwood or Moriarty. Even worse, Holmes is not a man of great confidence and intelligence. He resembles someone who is everything and yet nothing. A lonely, alcoholic, schizoid with little regard for sense and sensibility, he seems more able to succeed thanks to luck and surprisingly loyal friends. And yet he is an accomplished fighter, again with a great deal of cartoonish luck. How sad and pathetic. That being said, nothing really need be said about Watson.
Now for the good. The story, imagining this is not about Holmes and Watson but some other unkowns, was pretty good. I liked the mystery and the evil Blackwood. I liked old London. I liked the fast pace in picking up clues and developing mystery. The action was good and the humor was OK. I preferred Watson over Holmes. Jude Law's interpretation of Watson was more appealing than Holmes( I even got to the point, where I didn't care much for Holmes). Well, that's it for the good.
If you don't care for the traditional Sherlock Holmes, you may very well like this movie. But if you want to see the traditional Holmes and Watson get a clue and you will miss this slap in the face of tradition.
2 out of 10 for destroying tradition but a 6 out of 10 for a good attempt at making a fun detective movie. That averages out to a 4, Lestrade.