Sherlock Holmes
Directed by Guy Ritchie (2009)
I feel like I should be stood in a circle of people saying this but … my name is Jordan, and I enjoyed a Guy Ritchie film.
There, I said it.
Sherlock Holmes is not just good fun, but it’s actually just plain good too. Robert Downey Jr somehow pulls off Holmes as an erratic, bristly character with a charm that can only be described as ‘Holmesian’. I’ve no idea how he’s done it, but he has. I’m a big fan of Holmes — from the books, to the BBC radio plays, to Jeremy Brett’s marvellous TV characterisation — you could probably call me a traditionalist, but I’ve always thought of the (consulting) detective as an incredibly versatile character. So many actors have brought him alive in different ways (which is appropriate really, given Holmes’ penchant for dress-up) and this is simply another notch on his bedpost, so to speak.
My fears that the whole film was going to be an orgy of fist-fighting, womanising and chase sequences were largely assuaged, and while there was certainly a dash of the above, there was nothing that seemed too outrageous. Jude Law was pretty convincing as a younger Watson than is normally portrayed, and even though it’s a bit much to give Holmes a love interest, Rachel McAdams didn’t seem out of place as a rather odd interpretation of ‘The Woman’, Irene Adler. Mark Strong is, unsurprisingly, terrific as the devilish Lord Blackwood.
I’m genuinely amazed that the Guy Ritchie who made Revolver and Rock’n’Rolla had anything to do with this film, and part of me still thinks that it was really directed by an eager up-and-comer, with Ritchie’s name only on the poster to confound critics. It has to have something to do with the fact that nobody let him anywhere near the script, and that even he couldn’t squeeze a foul mouthed used car salesman into the story, and all it’s done is proven that behind the utter dross he’s gestated in the last few years lies a pretty decent director.
