Downey and Ritchie Successfully Make the Cerebral Victorian Detective into an Action Hero

Rating: 6/10 (26 December 2009)

SHERLOCK HOLMES: Holmes' famous catch phrase "the Game is Afoot" should be replaced by Full-Speed-Ahead in this kinetic adventure film, directed by Guy Ritchie. The cerebral Victorian detective has been transformed by Ritchie into a thrill-seeking action hero. Whereas the literary Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle, would seek solace from boredom between cases by indulging in narcotics, this new Holmes is equally likely to seek out an underground fight club as he is a crack pipe.
That's not to say that this new Holmes (Played by the always watchable Robert Downey Jr.) is lacking in intellect. We naturally get the requisite astute deductions based on trivialities invisible to anyone else. However, this modern Holmes has a Fools-Rush-In-Where-Wise-Men-fear-To-Tread mentality. He rarely thinks things through until after he's waded hip deep into danger and mayhem. It's only when he's face-to-face with impending disaster that his magnificent mind kicks into action and starts plotting his strategy. For instance, when Holmes is going toe-to-toe with an opponent in fisticuffs, his great brain begins to pre-choreograph the battle. We see inside Holmes' mind as he anticipates every blow, lists his enemy's weak spots, calculates how long it will take for the bad guy to fall and how long it will take him to get up again. As soon as he's satisfied with his pre-fight prediction, we see Holmes leap physically into the fray, which invariably ends just as Holmes anticipated.
It's as if this version of Holmes needs to be under pressure in order to motivate his amazing deductions. He seems to be more in love with danger than with solving puzzles, as the classic Holes was. Downey's Holmes is much more of a warrior than earlier versions of Holmes. He's not the type to sit in his room, smoking his pipe until an epiphany hits him. This Holmes has danger as his muse. It's hard to imagine Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (Who starred in the most popular classic film versions of Holmes and Watson) storming into a room full of armed thugs, carrying nothing but a walking stick and some Nun-chucks, and besting the baddies in a wild brawl.
And speaking of Watson, Jude Law makes a very dapper Doctor John Watson, and plays off well against Downey's quirky Holmes. Watson is engaged to be married to Mary Morstan (We don't know where Watson met Mary, since Holmes is only introduced to her after Watson has decided to marry her. Watson clearly didn't meet her in Holmes' case "The Sign of Four", as Doyle wrote her) who has a very unpleasant introduction to Holmes. Holmes is clearly threatened by Mary's relationship with Watson and does his best to sabotage it. (The scene where he uses a fake psychic to predict that Mary will become fat and grow warts is very funny). There is a subtle homo-erotic aspect to the Holmes/Watson relationship that today would be called a bro-mance. (They share clothes. Holmes doesn't like Watson's girlfriend.) But both men have their own love interests. Watson has Mary and Holmes has Irene Adler.
Irene (Rachael McAdams) flits in and out of the movie, tantalizing our hero with her feminine wiles. They have a Batman/Catwoman sort of relationship. Holmes is fascinated by Irene since she's the only one who has ever outwitted him (As she does several times in this film) while Irene herself is working as the agent of a mysterious enemy, but her feelings for Holmes cause her to waver in her mission. McAdams makes a very pretty Irene (Who Holmes does not refer to as "the Woman", the way he did in the Doyle cannon.) And—as you might expect—she has the requite scene where the pretty girl beats up a couple of large guys.
The plot: Holmes has captured the evil Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) who is using ritual sacrifices to call up some unnamed evil. Blackwood predicts his own resurrection and sure enough, no sooner has Watson pronounced him dead from hanging than Blackwood is back, up to his old sorcerer tricks again. It's up to Holmes to find out what the resurrected villain is planning before disaster hits England. Unlike the classic Holmes stories where our hero must save one of two lives, here Holmes is saddled with a Guy Fawkes type plot to destroy parliament and also to re-conquer the American colonies.
Downey's Holmes often seems more like Hugh Laurie's Greg House from "House MD". He's scruffy, witty, sarcastic and always messing up his best friend's private life. (As many already know, House was based on Holmes, so Ritchie brings the whole thing full circle by basing the new Holmes on House.) The bantering relationship between Holmes and Watson certainly seems inspired by House and Dr. Wilson.
There are lots of little Easter-eggs and inside jokes for fans of previous books and films to catch if they're paying attention. The standard Sherlockian trademarks are present, such as the disguises and the oft disdainful relationship with the semi-competent Inspector Lestrade. It actually retains more of the Doyle Holmes than the trailers and previews would make it seem. True, it strays very far from the source material and it may be hard for purists to accept Downey's unkempt urban warrior as the same character portrayed by Basil Rathbone or Jeremey Brett. However, if you can overlook the inaccuracies, this is actually a fun action film. Think of it as a Victorian 'Buddy Cop' action comedy and purists may enjoy it. As for people who don't know much about the Doyle Holmes, they'll find Downey's man-of-action version a lot of fun.