It is clear within the first 10 minutes of Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of the classic literary detective that this is not your grandfather’s Sherlock Holmes. Using more brawn than brain (though, to be fair, Holmes certainly takes a moment to inspect his opponent for weaknesses in order to fight him properly—literally slowing the film to show the step-by-step process prior to the actual beat-down), Holmes captures the wicked Lord Blackwood in the first scene. Of course, this is not without the help of his legendary partner, Dr. Jonathan Watson.
Robert Downey, Jr., portrays a modernized Sherlock Holmes set against a cold and dreary industrial England. Rather than the thoughtful, intellectual man constantly working on brainteasers—as seen in previous Holmes portrayals—Downey brings us a masochistic, self-medicating yet intelligent tool. Holmes is able to solve any puzzle and does so in an almost arrogant fashion. While there is never a moment that he does not know exactly what is going on, he deliberately keeps his understanding a secret. In fact, Holmes is a downright recluse, often refusing to leave his apartment unless he is on a case, going weeks at a time locked up in his room. Instead of experiencing the world outside, he prefers to spend his time conducting experiments on Watson’s bulldog.
Watson has also changed quite a bit. He is not the fumbling-but-lovable fool that we’ve seen before. Instead, Jude Law makes him out to be a strong counterpart to Holmes’ brilliance-meets-insanity persona. This Watson is remarkably intelligent, nearly a match to Holmes, except he lacks his partner’s unique attention to detail. He isn’t just a sidekick. The two are paired up not because they need each other’s skills, but because they are best friends.
You could even go so far as to call this film a “bromance.” While strong female leads are cast to play the two men’s love interests (Kelly Reilly is Watson’s Mary and Rachel McAdams portrays Irene Adler, Holmes’ almost love), the main relational tension strains the friendship between Holmes and Watson. After the success in hunting down Blackwood, Watson has decided to leave the sleuthing to Holmes and plans to move out of their apartment and wed fiancé Mary. With comical jealousy, Holmes attempts to sabotage the engagement every chance he gets, going so far as to hire a fortuneteller to tell Watson his future wife will end up covered in warts and boils.
Watson lets his friend off fairly easily, attributing it to his lack of maturity and the fact that the only woman Holmes has every cared about—Adler—is a criminal (read: a woman he cannot have).
Yet Holmes is able to lure Watson back after the Blackwood case is reopened. The story becomes so farfetched that he cannot stay away for long, considering that the man he pronounced dead at a hanging has somehow come back to life. In pursuit of the so-called sorcerer, the two men spend more time fist fighting bad guys than connecting clues. In fact, too much of the film is spent on these brawl scenes and it’s easy to miss the old Holmes. When he could be solving pieces to the puzzle with stealth and wit, he is instead punching a guy in the face and getting thrown across the room.
Perhaps the excess of fight scenes relates to the lack of a stellar script. While Holmes is certainly a smart aleck, he is not quite as clever as he ought to be. There is even too much time spent on the banter between Holmes and Watson, causing the plot to remain a little too complex. This—teamed with the often-unintelligible dialogue—leaves the audience feeling a little lost at times. By the end of the film, while the dynamic duo know what is happening and why, the audience is left to scratch their heads in confusion and wait for the sequel. And there will most definitely be a sequel. Let’s just hope the next Sherlock Holmes has some more fire.