I'm afraid I don't have much to say about Sherlock Holmes. I really enjoyed the movie, which is breezy, frequently amusing (and laugh out loud so) with a compelling story. It's quite well acted, perhaps no more evident than the leading duo of Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, which is to say nothing untoward about Rachel McAdams or Mark Strong.
To what will be many a person's surprise, Jude Law's Watson steals the movie out from right under Downey's Holmes. Mark Strong's Lord Blackwood is a credible and interesting villain, and *SEMI SPOILER* perhaps not the only one - there's certainly a good set up for the next Sherlock Holmes film, which I have no doubt there will be when word of mouth gets out about this film.
If you enjoyed Iron Man or Star Trek, or comparably entertaining films that don't necessarily assume you're checking your brain at the door, I have no doubt you'll take quite a shining to Sherlock Holmes. Guy Ritchie did quite a bang up job of paying credence to the existing Holmes canon while simultaneously moving their namesake in new and interesting directions. Don't misunderstand me: Sherlock Holmes' deductive skills are evident from beginning to end, and the central mystery of the film - Lord Blackwood's seemingly impossible return from the grave - are handled in clever ways. All of the clues are available, if doled out carefully, so that when Holmes and Blackwood meet again at the end the speech is logical and makes sense.
Again, I'm at a bit of a loss of how to continue talking about the film. I dare not reveal much more of the movie, as the trailers wonderfully represent what you're in for, but with a great deal extra. It is very much an 1890s "buddy cop" film, but one executed so well that you don't really mind. Where it needs to be faithful, it is; where it chooses to deviate, it does so cleverly. You'll have fun, and you won't feel insulted for having seen it. Not too shabby, considering some of the movies the Cap'n sat through this year.
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