Sherlock Holmes; Film on Friday

Robert Downey Jr is one of my favourite actors. I love how he plays Tony Stark in Iron Man, that he has the best lines in The Avengers Assemble and that he just is so.... un-Sherlockian at times in this movie and the sequel. 

If you are a real Sherlock fan-boy (or girl) then this is so not a faithful adaptation of the books and stories. It is so Sherlock Kicks Ass rather than Sherlock Thinks Aloud. But if you want to see a faithful interpretation then Jeremy Brett is the one you need, and it's brilliant also.

But sometimes, just sometimes, it's good to play with an original. Sherlock on BBC shows that. That's a brilliant retelling of the Holmesian legend that has only let me down once in not having the complete and utter logicality of the originality.

And this is another. Yes, it's got a bare-knuckled boxing Holmes that kisses Irene Adler, that chases all over London with a rather fitter, younger Watson than even Martin Freeman, but it is a jolly good romp. 

I love how Guy Ritchie has re-built the smoky dirty atmosphere of late 19th century London; the colours are grey and black, the material sumptuous and the plot is.... well, fun.

The basic premise is that there is a secret society at the heart of England's government that gets taken over by a devil-worshipping Lord with evil intent, probably world domination. Holmes has to foil his plans and in doing so discovers the next evil plot masterminded by.... Moriarty!!

The fact that Holmes' nemesis only appears in deep shadow and is never actually present when the action takes place is a great set up for Game of Shadows when Moriarty is The Villain of the piece. 

I suppose the film could have been called 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Pipes' but it is a fun watch. It's another film that gets us all sitting together and watching, although we have now watched it so many times that we all tend to do something else (read or computer) as we watch. The rather strange music is a weird combination of Gaellic reels and sort of Third Man string action combined, but it rollicks along at a fair old pace and suits the action/historically totally inaccuracy of the film.

It occurs to me I should give stars out of five to a reviewed film? Well, I'm not going to. If you've seen this you'll tell me what you think, and if you've not seen it then I don't suppose my star rating will add much to my review. You'll either think, "What an erudite and charming review, I must watch that one next time I see it" or "What strange movies that girl watches. I'll never watch that one!"