I haven’t read any of the original literary works about Sherlock Holmes, but I do know that he’s smart, likes drugs, messy, and anti-social. When he’s out on the job, he uses his intelligence to the max with photographic memory, observing every little detail in a split second. As a movie, it captures Sherlock Holmes pretty well. As for the story, can you say “Shanghai Knights”? Yes I’m referring to it being a buddy flick with those “climactic” fight sequences where the hero and villain ends up on top of the highest structure in London.

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) analyzes everything, and you get to see how his mind works. In the underground fight scene, Holmes uses his smarts to determine when and where to strike his opponent, showing us how he’s going to do it in slow motion in his mind, then the actual moment in real time. The movie really glorifies his fighting skills. Coming soon to pay-per-view, Holmes vs. Pacquaio!

The best part of the movie is Downey’s Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law’s Dr. Watson playing off of each other. They get on each other’s nerve, to the point where Watson punches Holmes in the face and Holmes commenting rudely to Watson’s date. In the end, they can’t live without each other. You could say their pairing is the greatest “bromance” of the 19th century.

The problem I had with this flick was Downey’s English accent. He mumbles throughout the movie and most of the time he’s unintelligible, as if he really thinks that makes a good English accent. He plays off of Watson, played by Jude Law. This movie really is a buddy flick, with Watson trying to move on and have a life of his own, while Holmes is trying to reel him back in as his partner.

Holmes methods of deduction is fascinating, but it can only go so far when we, as an audience, can’t join in on the fun of solving the mystery with him since he’s, well, leap years ahead of us. It’s as if the filmmakers can do whatever they want in the beginning, but just as long as Holmes can explain it in the end, everything’s peachy.

The main story is pretty generic with the whole secret society taking over the world plot, but check out this film for Downey and Law’s witty bantering and some cool action scenes including Holmes vs. a giant French henchman.

Grade: C+

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