Looking for a good mystery?

Rating: 7/10 (24 April 2010)

The most famous sleuth in all of literature is back. "Sherlock Holmes" is the latest movie to feature the brilliant detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
At the opening of the picture, Sherlock and his assistant Dr. Watson are in pursuit of Lord Blackwood, a man who is involved in black magic. He has murdered five people, and is on the verge of claiming another victim before Holmes and Watson come to the rescue. Lord Blackwood is arrested and sent to jail.
A couple of months later, Watson is set to move out of 221B Baker Street and get married. Holmes is in a disheveled state, which is apparently normal for him in between cases. Lord Blackwood, who is sentenced to die, calls for Holmes. Reaching Blackwood's jail cell, Holmes listens as Blackwood tells him that he will return from the grave and kill again, and will change the existence of society, and Holmes will be powerless to do anything. Holmes departs, Blackwood is hanged later that day, and is pronounced dead by Watson.
Soon after, Irene Adler, who is both a criminal and woman that Sherlock has had an interest in for some time, comes to visit. She asks Holmes to find a man named Reordan. After she leaves, he follows her in disguise, and finds out that she is working for somebody, but does not know who it is.
Holmes and Watson are called to the graveyard, where Lord Blackwood's crypt has been destroyed. A man says he saw Blackwood rise from his tomb earlier that day. The police bring the casket out into the open, and when the lid is opened, they find that Reordan is inside. Holmes sets out to determine what is going on.
Robert Downey, Jr. has fun playing Sherlock, and it shows. Jude Law is also good as Watson, and Rachel McAdams gives a fine performance as Irene.
Something else I liked about this movie is that the screenwriters, Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, and Simon Kinberg, made the film like one of Conan Doyle's stories. If any of you have ever read a Holmes mystery, you'll know what I mean. Visual effects fans will not be disappointed with this, either. The effects are good.
Whether you are a Holmes fan, or looking for a movie in the mystery genre, watch this one. It's good.