Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) gives Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective a makeover to make him more appealing to the new millennium and, in some ways, return him to his origin.

Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man, Tropic Thunder) is Holmes and he is intelligent, physical, bohemian, and more than a little eccentric. Jude Law (Gattaca, eXistenZ) is his trusted companion, Dr Watson, and Rachel McAdams (Red Eye, Mean Girls) is the object of Holmes’ desire, Irene Adler, and she is more than a match for him in several departments. Mark Strong (Babylon AD, Stardust).
is Lord Blackwood, the scoundrel of the piece, with Professor Moriarty no doubt being saved for future films. There are fights and ludicrous villainy as Downey, and his fake English accent, clashes with the bad guy, the girl, a secret society, and the police.

It’s good to see the Holmes legend reinvigorated, I only wish it had more good lines, a shorter running time, less obvious plotting, and less CGI. A good fight/action scene does not need superfluous effects added to it. It’s another movie where a little more creative individuality and a little less catering to popular taste would have meant a much better product. I thought Ritchie would know better, but maybe having an American producer, Joel Silver (Speed Racer, The Invasion, V For Vendetta), was detrimental.