Guy Ritchie is a proper ol' cockney lad isn't he, so it is nice to see him portraying my current home of London Town in the 19th century rather than just the grotty 20th century East End he has usually employed in his films. Not that I did'nt love Lock Stock and Snatch, even Rock N Rolla; I did, its just nice to see Guy stretching out a bit, toeing new waters as it were.
In Sherlock Holmes we follow the infamous Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson on an adventure across London, chasing black magic cults and giant Frenchmen. We start the story with Holmes and Watson apprehending the black magic wizardy person Lord Blackwood, who is sentenced to hang for murder and shiz. However, after his feet stop twitching and he is confirmed dead and buried, some crack head grave keeper swears he saw this punk strolling about like death aint no thang. Holmes and Watson are thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the seemingly magic-faced Lord Blackwood. We meet Irene Adler, who apparently outsmarted Holmes a few times before and he seems to let this happen alot, probably as he is too busy staring at her boobs all the time, but i'm sure her ass is just as alluring. All three of them stumble around trying to solve the weird case of Blackwood raising from the dead and how he plans to kill mo fools. And its on like Donkey Kong...
Robert Downey Jr is one of my favourite actors, he has a charisma and charm that the cameras cant hide and that makes any audience member instantly like him, and he is no different in the role of Sherlock Holmes. Not only is he a smart mofo, but hes a nutter too; for instance, he locks himself in his room for weeks on end getting plastered, trying to invent a gun silencer and drinking eye medicine, leading him train flies to fly in circles using a violin (no shit), and then he goes out and partakes in underground bare knuckle fucking boxing matches. Downey Jr is great as Holmes, with plenty of quick witted lines and a surprisingly good English accent; he was in shape for the role, packing on muscle for his boxing scenes and he doesn' tcome across as a super intelligent professor type, more a 'smarter-than-thou' lil' brat, which I thought was great.
Jude Law was good as Watson, adding a subtlety to the role which I liked, Watson being very reserved in his role as Holme's sidekick, most of the time wanting to get away from him to be with his fiancee, but ending up dragged through shit with him, trying to keep him on a leash, as Holmes is a bit of a loose cannon.
The one bit of casting I didn't like was Rachel McAdams as Irene, for one reason: a femme fatale she is not. McAdams is very pretty, and so of course I didn't mind her being on screen, but her character was meant to have edge, and McAdams has about as much edge as a pillow fight bless her. Stick to shit like The Notebook Rachel, you are not wanted here.
Ritchie does a good job of creating 19th century London, with the atmosphere and the sounds sucking you right into the times, but the overall feel is very 'summer blockbuster' which leads me to think that after he flopped with Revolver, he is making an effort to push his way back into the Hollywood scene with Sherlock Holmes, which appears like it will become a sequel machine. Fair play Guy, I get you want to be up their in the clouds with the top dogs, but take your time matey, you still haven't grasped the skill of linking narrative to film pace, and as such Sherlock Holmes moves in bursts, with some parts being mile and minute and others crawling and leaving me wondering why I was still watching this scene.
Sherlock Holmes is worth watching; it isn't excessively brilliant cinema, but if you are looking for a slightly smarter than average action thriller, then you should watch it now folks, actually, watch it anyway, so Ritchie can get to Hollywood and start throwing cockney slang all up in Jerry Bruckheimer's face, that could make a great film in itself, shit, i would watch it.
Till next time
Peace
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