I guess this is the age of updates.  It seems most everything is being remade, rebooted, re-imagined, reinterpreted.  Batman, Superman, the Alien, the Predator, Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, the Planet of them Damn Dirty Apes.  Even the Fantastic Four is scheduled for a reboot series (kind of puzzling, but also kind of welcome).  Add to the list Sherlock Holmes.  Yes, the world’s greatest detective has been updated for the new millennium and set amid explosions and slo-mo, bare knuckle, mixed martial arts fights.  Blasphemy!  Blasphemy!  Most likely, though, the worst part, especially for purists, is that Sherlock Holmes is actually good.  It’s entertaining.  God save the Queen, it’s fun.

Director Guy Ritchie (who was dumb enough to marry Madonna and strong enough to survive like eight years of marriage to her before being smart enough to divorce her–I ask, who is the real RocknRolla?) starts things off with Holmes rushing to stop a black magic ritual murder of a Victorian hottie by the nefarious Lord Blackwood–people of his evil caliber were considered nefarious in 1891, and some of the women were hotties; trust me on both accounts.  With the aid of Dr. Watson, Holmes stops the murder and Lord Blackwood is finally apprehended.  Of course, the police, led by Inspector Lestrade, arrive to the party late (as the police do in movies) and cart the dark Lord off.


In no time at all, Lord Blackwood is tried, sentenced, and readied for the gallows.  While awaiting the hangman’s noose, one guard is overcome with seizures and convulsions brought on by Blackwood’s sorcery, and everybody is pretty much scared of him.  So no one finds it too shocking, but the commoners do find it oh so frightening, that after even Watson pronounces Blackwood dead, the mighty man of the dark arts comes back from the dead to wreak havoc on grimy, gloomy London town.  This is where Holmes comes in to crack the case and solve the mystery.  Sadly, there is no real mystery at the core of Sherlock Holmes, but there are plenty of punches, pyrotechnics, and pithy, witty dialogue.

I grew up watching Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.  There is Brett, and then there is everybody else.  But I liked Robert Downey, Jr. as Holmes, and Jude Law as Watson (not a Nigel Bruce dumb-dumb Watson, either, thankfully).  Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler…I admit, I liked her, too.  It’s the chemistry and camaraderie between Downey, Jr. and Law that make this movie shine and set it apart from the rest of the buddy-cop action flicks (and that is really what it is, and it’s not a bad thing).  Sherlock Holmes just works.  Like I said, it’s entertaining and fun.

I’m a Sherlock Holmes fan, and I didn’t find this to be some bastard perversion of Arthur Conan Doyle’s works.  It actually honors its origins and pedigree.  Even the purists can’t deny it’s a good time.

4 out of 5
the_novacula