Sherlock Holmes - 2009

How does he do it. Somehow people keep funding Guy Ritchie's film. Thankfully with his latest he has enough good points to make the film watchable, almost entertaining, but certainly not the waste of time and money most of his films become. With Sherlock Holmes he has a hero who is not only likeable, but a rounded, flawed and deeply entertaining character, and in the hands of Robert Downey Jr. is effortlessly charming, charismatic and watchable. He also has Jude Law, who has Watson knits into the film beautifully to turn Ritchie's film less into a crime thriller than a bromantic comedy. Dwoney Jr and Law work wonderfully together, falling into a natural banter, as if they have known each other a lifetime. You assume it was fantastically fun working on the film and it helps the enjoyment of the film. Unfortunately their chemistry makes the inclusion of Rachel McAdams former lover of Holmes feel somewhat redundant, and the script leans so heavily on the Holmes/Watson double team, that a good, servicable performance from McAdams is almost completely overlooked. The principal cast is completed Mark Strong, playing your stereotypical evil genius.

The actual plot is fairly preposterous, and Ritchies direction is the weak link, he overuse of slow motion, and his direction of certain scenes threaten to implode a film built on shaky foundations, but the film contains a good number of action set pieces and the story rattles along at a good pace, meaning you don't really have time, or don't really want to spend time analysising the flaws too much, except those glaring problems Ritchie brings to the table.

The other major problem with the story is a lack of explanation as to who Sherlock Holmes actually is, we are never given any real character development, the writers assuming the audience has a level of knowledge to carry us through with his violin playing or astute deductive genius. What the film attempts is to move away from the stuffy, old fashioned English gent portrayed in most other film and TV adaptations. Instead this is Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century, cool, charming, strong and with a cheeky knowing arrogance which has come to epitomise a lot of modern action adventure filmmaking.

Not a complete disaster, especially as the pre-release buzz was that Ritchie had fluffed it, but still not the great film it could, and possibly should have been with such a riveting duo in Downey Jr and Law. Here's hoping the next adventure will be a problem investigative thriller, with a human, yet brilliant villain (Moriarty) who forces Downey Jr's Holmes to face a opponent he and we as an audience are absolutely confident he can beat.