Rating of
3.5/4
"Sherlock Holmes" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/31/12
Holmes and Watson prevent the dastardly murder of an innocent girl during a satanic ritual, but when the would be murderer seems to come back from the grave the dynamic duo seem to have met their match....RockNRolla was a strong indication that the Ritchie formula was starting to wear a little thin, but the reinvention of Sherlock Holmes as a hard-drinking, bare knuckle brawling geezer was ringing some serious alarm bells with me (especially since the trailer made it look like Van Helsing 2). Thankfully, Robert Downey Jr. pulls out all the stops to make the character an infectious, eccentric cross between Doctor Who and Indiana Jones, and somehow it works brilliantly. He is perfectly complimented by Jude Law who shares great chemistry with his co-star making them a real Butch And Sundance of Victorian London. Their on screen partnership also has more than a little in common with the Cary Grant/Rosalind Russell pairing in His Girl Friday meaning Rachel McAdams is also on hand to provide the eye candy and stop them from looking too gay. It is a bit guilty of Pirate-izing the material, but the hokey hoodoo never gets too out of hand and the result is a hugely enjoyable comic strip romp that's everything The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen should have been, but wasn't.
