Sherlock Holmes (2009)

With all the television shows I've been catching up on (in particular, most recently, the prison soap-opera Oz), it's been hard to make room for good old-fashioned movies. But last night, while pausing for breath between seasons 4 and 5 of Oz, I decided to make a special effort, and took a look at Guy Ritchie's 2009 Sherlock Holmes. 

It's a fast-paced and entertaining film, with Robert Downey Jr giving a fresh, energetic interpretation of Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law putting in a solid (for him) performance as his sidekick Watson. This guys are a far cry from the staid characters conjured up in Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories: Downey's Holmes is equally comfortable carrying out wacky science experiments in his opium den of an apartment or jumping in the ring for a bare-knuckled boxing match to relieve his boredom (the latter, accompanied by irish folk music, was presumably a nod to Brad Pitt's boxer in Snatch). 

The classic moments of deductive genius are brilliantly rendered through Ritchie's signature slow-motion/disjointed action sequences (the blow-by-blow breakdown which precedes his knockout flurry of punches in the boxing match is great). There are also a couple of nice glimpses of his disguise abilities. Also, Law is a good foil for Downey, and they manage to weave many lines from the original books ("the game is afoot" etc) in a natural way.

I liked Ritchie's gritty portrayal of nineteenth century London: it provided an interesting backdrop (St Paul's, a semi-completed Tower Bridge) but without venturing into that self-indulgent Tim Burton style that made films like "From Hell" so tedious.

I must admit I didn't follow the actual plot all that closely (my wakefulness started to flag midway through, before perking up with a jolt -- perhaps alerted by a loud piece of action -- towards the end). It seemed to draw on some Dan Brown-esque occult material without, thankfully, getting too bogged down in it. You get the feeling this was more a film about characters and setting rather than an epic story.

As a side thought, some of the interaction between Downey and Law was reminiscent of Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard from House, MD -- ironic, but perhaps not coincidental, given that those characters are themselves based loosely on Holmes and Watson.

One final highlight was the traditional Irish song "Rocky Road To Dublin" (performed by The High Kings), which accompanied the boxing match and end credits. I remember hearing somewhere in the depths of childhood (I think the old man used to sing it when he was on the sauce):

One two three four five,

Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road

And all the way to Dublin, whack-fol-la-de-da !

BOTTOM LINE: not a classic, but entertaining and worth a look.