Sherlock Holmes - movie review

FR: Reminiscent of Angels n Demons and Iron Man. Overall, entertaining.

Sherlock Holmes, the movie, shows the legendary detective and his sidekick Dr. Watson in a completely new light as Sherlock Holmes is shown to be a mad-scientist-cooped-up-in-dark-room guy and Dr. Watson has the charm of a 1000 fireflies in a forest at midnight. When I used to read Sherlock Holmes, I used to always imagine Sherlock as the smarter, more charismatic person but somehow here, Dr Watson comes out as the charmer. The plot is reminiscent of the recently released Angels n Demons and unfortunately that movie came out in the recent past.

An evil sorcerer by the name of Lord Blackwood is in the midst of his 6th murder of an innocent girl using sorcery, when he is caught red-handed and stopped by the dynamic duo of Sherlock and Watson. Watson and Holmes personally attend the execution and Watson declares Blackwell dead after his hanging. Just as they think the case is closed, Blackwell reappears from the beyond the grave and the murders start again. Watson and Sherlock believe only in logic and magic has no place in their minds. As fear spreads about Blackwell's reappearance, Sherlock and Watson race to solve the mystery.

A sub plot involves Sherlock's love interest, Irene, who has been employed by Dr. Moriarty to trap Sherlock and get vital information from him regarding Blackwell's work in sorcery. As Watson puts it, "the only reason you (Sherlock) have fallen for a thief is because she has outsmarted you on more than 1 ocassion". The chemistry between the detective and thief has sparks flying all around. Also, Sherlock and Watson's camarederie has been captured very nicely by constant battles of wits. Lord Blackwell's acting is the best as he inspires fear in you by all the magic he can conjure.

221B Baker Street looks just like I had imagined and the sets have captured the era perfectly. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are extremely believable as Sherlock-Watson and Robert especially plays his mad-scientist-part who experiments on his own dog, very effectively. His wide-eyed innocence at doing perfectly stupid things seems a bit reminiscent of Iron Man but his rapport with Watson ultimately makes this movie unique. The plot could have been different as we just had a dose of there-is-no-magic-only-logic from Angels and Demons, but an entertaining movie nevertheless.

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