Sherlock Holmes: Movie Review

'm surprised this one hasn't gotten more love. I dug this a lot. I went into it expecting an action flick, and that's exactly what I got. The previews don't exactly set this up to be a mystery detective movie despite the fact our hero is the great Sherlock Holmes. For me, clearly it's set up as an action movie, and in my opinion it delivered. The performances, directing, and story were all solid.

Downey Jr. has proven yet again he's a force to be reckoned with. Jude Law was a pleasant surprise; he can be hit or miss with me. The only person I had an issue with was Rachel McAdams. I could be wrong, but she didn't appear to give it her all. She wasn't awful by any stretch of the imagination, but she kind of moseyed through the whole picture. I'm not sure how wise casting her was.

I enjoyed Guy Ritchie's take on this classic hero. It was stylish, slick, and cool. Just a fun ride. I enjoyed how much the camera moved within a single shot. When I heard he was directing this, I really didn't know what to think. I've enjoyed all his gangster flicks, but wasn't sure how his style would translate to such a huge movie. I believe it worked. The only thing I would change about Ritchie's style here is the addition of tension. I needed a lot more. I didn't get much of a sense of it...really at all.

I enjoyed the story quite a bit. Simple enough, but not so much that it was dull. Not overly convoluted, not too lofty of concepts for what this is: an action movie. Surprisingly, I laughed way more than I expected. A lot of people had problems with the pacing, as well as the length of the movie, but I thought both were appropriate, and worked well. I didn't feel bored, or let down in any way. Sherlock Holmes as a character, I believe, is very well written here. Specifically, I enjoyed his approach to the fistfights: planning his attacks ahead of time. This is a surprisingly clever device to inform the audience of how smart this cat really is. On the downside, while there was a bit of mystery to how everything would tie together in the end, that mystery doesn't do much in the way creating drama or tension as I said.