Short Review: Decent action flick, not really a true Sherlock Holmes story, but it was pretty dang fun. Should you see it in the theater? Sure.

What’s in it: Lots of cleavage and woman running around not wearing a whole lot, but more than they do on those soap commercials. Guns, knives, bombs, trains, torture, waterfalls, trees, artillery, um...lets see, more guns, lots of fist fights, so, heavy on the “action” part of the movie, a solid PG-13 rating.

• Directed by:
  • Guy Ritchie
    • Known for: Snatch, Lock, Stock, Two Smocking Barrels, the first Sherlock Holmes
• Notable actors
  • Robert Downey Jr.
    • Known for: Iron Man, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (which was great, btw), Tropic Thunder, A Scanner Darkly, Soap Dish (remember that one!?), Weird Science (yep),
  • Jude Law
    • Enemy at the Gates (ok), Cold Mountain (never saw it), Contagion (really, really good), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (he was the voice of Lemony Snicket), Ai: Artificial Intelligence (never saw it, don’t really care to), eXistenZ (AWESEME, you gotta see it)
•     And a lot of cool other people in it, like Noomi Rapace, Rachael McAdams, and Jared Harris.

For starters, as I said earlier, this is not really a Sherlock Holmes story. Have you read them? If not you should, they’re great. One thing they’re not, however, is action packed. The best contemporary comparison to Sherlock Holmes is Dr. House, on the she House. Note, Dr. House is BASED on Holmes, so, that’s why they have so much in common. Both characters don’t have a lot of care or concern for others, don’t mind being rude to even their closest friends, have addictions or at least use drugs (in the original stories, Holmes uses opiates). But where House solves medical mysteries, Holmes solves crimes. NOT fighting crime with gating guns, martial art sequences that rival some Jackie Chan movies, or being able to predict the damn future! (the fight sequences where he thinks through what the attackers are about to do perfectly so that he can counteract them).

Now, in the original stories, there brief mentioning of his abilities to defend himself in a physical fight. But Holmes detest violence as much as he detests inept police men, maybe more so. This is why, I say, this is not a Sherlock Holmes movie.

However, I will say this. Robert Downey Jr., does an excellent job playing an arrogant, self absorbed,  intelligent detective. And Jude Law does a great job as playing his counterpart, Dr. Watson. I also must admit that the selection of Jared Harris to play Professor Moriarty was a fantastic idea, was was spectacularly intelligent and devious.

SPOILER ALERT

(although there is a twist ending, I will not give that away. I will, however, discuss the larger plot points that speak to our human nature, you were warned)

But what about the plot and the idea that Moriarty is deliberately trying to start a war between the European countries after buying up all the ammunition, gun, and bandage manufacterers? Well, that’s pretty freekin’ diabolical. But it sort of makes Moriarty look like a common criminal just in it for the money. But, of course, he’s not. Moriarty is evil pretty much just because he can be, and he likes the power.

Reminds you of another character in another movie Robert Downey Jr. was in, doesn’t it? Give up? Iron Man. So, this isn’t really a new plot, but it is an interested twist to the theme of a classic literary villain attempting to start one of the world wars, that’s just plain evil.

Should you see it? Sure. Compared to other action flicks, it has much more intelligent dialogue, which I appreciated, so, ya know, it’s a good flick. Don’t necessarily need to see it in the theater though, you could easily wait to rent it..

Imdb.com

Rottentomatoes.com

Kids-in-mind.com