The great game

Rating: 6/10 (2 July 2015)

Guy Ritchie after a spell in the doldrums returned with a big budget production of Sherlock Holmes with a rejuvenated Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law playing a more brutish Dr Watson.
The villain here is aristocratic Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) who has been foiled when partaking in a ritual sacrifice and despite being hung for his crimes, seemingly returns from the dead and kills others by use of black magic it seems as he aims to topple the British establishment.
Irene Adler turns up in the shape of Rachel McAdams with a hint of romance with Holmes and there are plenty of hints that Professor Moriarty is lurking in the background.
Guy Ritchie has gone for a grimy, steam-punk setting of London. There is plenty of CGI the more effective being the partially built Tower of London but the CGI looks just that and has aged badly even though the film was only released in 2009.
Ritchie still sticks with his London setting of cockney schemers and wheeler dealers. Its a muscular film with slow motion fight scenes as Holmes anticipates the combat in advance. His Watson is also handy with his fists, you actually wonder if he is a pugilist rather than a doctor. I did find the sub plot of Holmes being put out that Watson is engaged to get married rather irritating and not funny at all.
Still Downey is enjoying himself and gets to try out his English accent again after Chaplin ad Richard III. This is a muscular action adventure film, less of a mystery as the plot places an emphasis on the supernatural and some of Holmes famous deductions are actually laughable.