Review: Sherlock Holmes

I could watch Robert Downey Jnr. paint his house.

It's been wonderful charting the Renaissance of Robert. The man is the definition of charisma. He has enough charm and wit for five leading men. Imagine a film you may have seen recently where the headline actor hasn't kept your attention and it's probably because Downey Jnr was on set somewhere usurping everyone else's talent.

In Sherlock Holmes he brings that magic in spades, dominating every scene and imbuing Holmes with the perfect blend of eccentricity, pomposity and humour but with enough sincerity so as not to turn Holmes into a walking punchline. This new Holmes is every bit the Victorian genius from Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, but he has been given an injection of modern sensibility. That's not to say we get a slew of wink wink pop culture references, rather the film plays out like a modern film set 100 years ago. There is a playfulness about the film that Downey Jnr absolutely understands and plays the character accordingly.

Which didn't surprise me to be honest, what surprised me was how right Director Guy Ritchie got the tone of this movie to begin with. Ritchie has been stuck in his own rut for years. He makes "Guy Ritchie" movies and for the last twelve years he has been trying to live up to the hype put on him after Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels. Here, the focus isn't on him but on "Sherlock Holmes" freeing him of that pressure and that really shines through. There is a freedom here that is tangible, and Ritchie is clearly delighted to be able to flex a whole new set of muscles. The film exists in a heightened reality (London looks like a matte painting) allowing some very stylised film making. Some elaborate sweeping shots here, some speed ramping borrowed from Zack Snyder there, visually it all adds up to a very kinetic experience but never overwhelms the film. In theory, updating Sherlock Holmes could have been a disaster, a shallow attempt to market a property to the mainstream. Yet here, it's done with such care that the setpieces never betray the spirit of character. That's the balance that Ritchie has struck.

Equally surprising is just how good Jude Law is in this. Law is a solid actor and can deliver terrific performances (Road to Perdition) but he is capable of turning in some really pedestrian work. Here he is visibly having fun, Watson and Holmes have a wonderful relationship and he and Downey Jnr have terrific chemistry, bouncing off each like an old time double act.

The problems arise when you realise that the film is so enjoying its two leading men and devotes so much attention to them that it starts to overlook everything else. Rachel McAdams does her best as "Feisty-potential love-interest" but it's a poorly written character, all flirt and pout and not much else. At times it seems she was inserted just to remind the audience that Holmes and Watson aren't a couple. Equally disappointing is how little Mark Strong is given to do as the film's antagonist Lord Blackwood. Strong is a terrific character actor and deserved a far meatier role. He ably makes Blackwood creepy and unnerving but he is still a disappointingly shallow nemesis. The underdeveloped villain actually takes us to the films real issue: the fumbled third act.

The buzzword in Hollywood these days is reboot and with each new "reimagining" far too much focus is put on trying to create franchises. This is fine if the property can sustain multiple films but too often it is at the expense of the film. The result is a growing number of films that barely even work as standalone stories, films more interested in setting up a potential sequel than resolving their own plot. So too with Sherlock Holmes. After the film takes great care in setting up an intriguing mystery, the third act squanders it all for a by-the-numbers action scene followed by a by-the-numbers fight scene concluded with Holmes explaining away the plot. It all descends into throwaway exposition.It's been noted before that the film plays like a Scooby Doo episode and in terms of the climax that's true.

But like I said, it's Rob's show and depending on how much you like him you will either like this film or love it. The third act doesn't burst the film, just deflates it a bit. Let's hope England's greatest detective get's a more engaging mystery next time.