Guy Ritchie teams up with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law to reboot the classic tale and the end result is an entertaining and well acted effort that fails to ever really be anything but pretty good; not that there is anything wrong with that.
Instead of going straight into traditional origins and reboot territory, I think the film wisely throws us right into the fire and the potential end of an era as Sherlock Holmes trusty companion Watson is about to move on with his life and move out of the two’s flat. Holmes is a bit worked up over this and add the fact that there are no cases worthy of his skills left in London. Luckily a mysterious plot surrounding the dark and possibly sorcerer like Lord Blackwood gives Holmes something to mull over and keeps him and Watson working together for the time being. An old flame, Irene, and a crafty criminal on top of that also re-enters his life and she is working for a mysterious figure as well. All of a sudden Holmes has plenty to do and luckily for us the man stays busy.
The movie never drops a beat, moving along at a whips pace and always holding our attention. The set pieces are elaborate and plentiful with the factory explosion sequence being one of the most impressive cinematic scenes I have seen in some time. All in slow motion and staying right with the actors, this building blows up around them, pieces of rubble and flames flying into people, it was the highlight of the film. [Read more...]