Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes
Review by Courtney Baker

Based on the series of novels and short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes puts a new twist on an old favorite in. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.), ace detective, and his trusty companion Dr. Watson (Jude Law) are on an adventure- their last, because Watson is to be wed. The wellbeing of England is on their shoulders as Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) terrorizes London with supposed sorcery, while Holmes’ fate may rest on the shoulders of the only woman able to outwit him, Irene Adler (Rachael McAdams).

The film is a brilliant look into the mind of a genius, and of course, there’s a fine line between genius and insanity. Some may call this Holmes mad. He does indeed seem to be portrayed as erratic, a bit scatterbrained at times, and more than a little bit unorthodox in his methods. But when you get down to it, he really is a genius. Some may look at this Holmes and say that they ruined what Holmes was, they portrayed him all wrong. When people think Sherlock Holmes, they often think of a polished, straight edged, simply highly intelligent character who is very posh and high class. But Sherlock Holmes was a boxer, a smoker, used cocaine and morphine (both of which were legal at the time, though) and was unconventional to get the information he needed. He didn’t just go through places picking out tiny details and using his impressive deductive skills to solve the case. He went through big adventures too. This film re-imagined him by taking him back to his roots and making him as gritty and insane as he really could have been.

Holmes wasn’t the only character that was re-imagined. In the original short story “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Irene Adler was once only an opera star from New Jersey who had evidence of her relationship with a king once. Even then she was the woman; she could outsmart Holmes, arguably one of the cleverest minds in his world, as she does in the movie. Now she’s a world class thief forced into a deal with who could soon be Holmes’ main enemy.

And look at Watson. Dr. John Watson is often portrayed or thought to be an insistent super-fan of Sherlock’s. In this version, it’s the exact opposite. It’s a look on the friendship that is a bit unusual. Holmes seems to be the type of person who works, and only speaks to people involved in his work- as many highly intelligent people are. Even if Watson simply ceased working with him as a detective, obviously in some aspects Holmes would be lacking, and they would see each other little. It’s fairly obvious in one scene, when Holmes hasn’t had a case in a while, that he’s bored and he needs Watson’s help getting back into things (and facing the sunlight).

The chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law is fantastic in the leading roles. They work with each other like a true pair of bickering and sarcastic friends. Watson seems quite fed up with Holmes and his eccentric behavior, but it’s clear that they are close friends. If they weren’t close friends, I expect that Holmes would have been run through with his bow for practicing the violin at three AM, and likewise Holmes would have murdered Watson for letting the flies go- the ones that Holmes had been catching for six hours due to his boredom and probable high. But no matter how much they aggravate each other, they’ll always be there, whether they’re in an explosion, being chased by thugs, or Holmes has simply forgotten his revolver again. The way that Downey and Law act tells you this.

The same can’t be said for the chemistry between the trio- Adler, Holmes, and Watson. They don’t work as well together as just Holmes and Watson, and it’s always more fun to see Adler against Holmes than with him. She thoroughly bewilders Holmes. Luckily, they don’t work together for very long before Adler’s against Holmes again. Still, between Holmes and Adler, there’s still a sense of a very witty yet on edge love. After all, at the beginning of the movie, Watson points out that Holmes should probably avoid her, considering she’s tricked him before… twice.

All of our heroic takedowns are reasoned out and thought through before they happen, offering the audience a different look on our mystery. Yet, where some things are reasoned out before hand, when the characters start solving things or hashing out what needs to be or has been learned, the audience is taken back and walked through it again after they’ve seen it happen once, like when Holmes follows Irene from his home after she lets herself in to present him with a case. The audience isn’t even aware of the fact that Holmes followed Irene, not until he explains what happened to Watson afterwards.

The message of the entire thing could be that friendship holds strong, even through change. Just because Watson is moving out and getting married, doesn’t mean he’s any less Holmes’ friend. He can hardly resist being his friend really. No matter how much Holmes frustrates him, he still loves the adventure and mystery involved in being Sherlock Holmes’ right hand man. Or maybe the message is that there’s always something bigger waiting for you, as Professor Moriarty waits for Holmes.

This film gives you the clues, and you can follow along and solve the mystery with Holmes, if you care to. The camera hovers on this, a character says something else, and it’s a puzzle for the solving, but offers enough twists to not be a predictable and boring story. The wit and joking between Holmes and the other characters makes you laugh. It’s an action film, thrilling and fast paced. You’re drawn into the late 19th century, pulled into London, and you enjoy every minute of the ride.