Sherlock Holmes (2009)

This is not the only example of a classic literaric figure or story that is taken out of the original context and put into an over-the-top action setting. Sometimes this ambition fails (lately: The three musketeers) or - as in this case - actually works out.

As soon as you read the name Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels, Snatch) you should have an idea of what you are getting into here. At least it should be a hint for the highly stylized vibe in this version of the crime-solving detective Sherlock Holmes.
Forget everything you knew about him, it won't be neccessary.

Robert Downey Jr. is the star of this spectacle and portrays Sherlock Holmes as a kung fu fighting, troubled, joking, weird, intellectual action hero.

In a furious opening scene he and his partner Dr. Watson (Jude Law) track down and arrest Lord Blackwood who is responsible of murdering five innocent women. What seems as a success is soon described as "only the begin" of an even bigger and inorexorable criminal act by Blackwood himself as he warns Holmes in prison only one day before his execution. He's proven right.

A series of strange events follows that lay a mysterious shadow of fear and uncertainty over the city of London.

Can Holmes find the answers?
Has Blackwood returned from death?
What is the meaning of the appearance of Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams)?
Who sent the guys Holmes gets in trouble with?
How are influential people involved in the case?

Many questions and many difficulties for Holmes and his partner ...
Besides that the plot is maybe a bit too complicated and not structered very well, the big question overall is: Who cares?

What drives the film along is its momentum of action and humor from scene to scene. The story is often dumb and not very interesting anyway and kind of lurches along just providing the vehicle for some escapist fun. The film could and should be 15 minutes shorter for that matter.

Fortunately the scenes are filled with a lot of crude humor and the jokes land most of the time mainly due to the performance of Downey Jr.. He is what holds the film together and saves it 3 stars even besides the murky storytelling and sometimes distracting gimmickery Ritchie is known for.

The puzzle is solved in a very contrived and manipulative way at the end. The film has to spell everything out which is not a sign for good writing, although, done more elegantly, this can work better as seen in some of Richtie's other films. This is one of those guilty pleasures that make you laugh first at the movie and than at yourself for buying this silly stuff.
It is certainly not a very good film in that sense, but as long as you ignore the story it might - at least now on dvd - be worth a shot. It is after all pretty amusing. But also pretty forgetable.

The unavoidable sequel will be released in the middle of December this year.