Tags
Action, Drama, Eddie Marsan, Jude Law, Kelly Reilly, Mark Strong, Movie, Rachel McAdams, Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes, Suspense
wait...where are your hats!? why am I always the only one to remember to wear a hat!?
PG-13
Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly
Watson: You do realize what you’re drinking is for eye surgery…?
Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) attempts to catch a murderous man with seemingly magical powers.
A quick summary would be – entertaining at times, but ultimately somewhat confusing, flat, and overlong.
Robert Downey Jr. is pretty much always going to be good for some entertainment value, and that’s certainly the case here. This is not a stuffy, methodical Sherlock Holmes that Downey is playing. He’s an expert at hand to hand combat, using smaller, but damaging, hits to disorient his opponent before striking a finishing blow. I like that aspect of the movie. Carrying his calculating mind over to all sorts of areas makes sense.
Jude Law is alright as Watson, but that character seemed fairly one dimensional to me. Actually, everybody in the movie, besides Holmes, seemed a little one dimensional. Holmes’ former love, and nemesis, Irene (McAdams), could have been a very interesting character, but she seemed underwritten as well. I’m a Rachel McAdams fan, but she just doesn’t have much to do for most of the movie.
There are some nice sets and fairly well staged action sequences, but none of it ever really connected with me for some reason. Doesn’t seem like it was as fun as it should have been. It definitely has its moments, but overall it seemed like a confusing collection of scenes that has already started to fade from my memory.
A good, solid slap to the ear can disorient your opponent long enough for you to land a more damaging punch to the neck or face.
10 – 2 because it just seemed sort of jumbled and overlong – 1.5 for most of the characters being too one dimensional = 6.5
The Robot Who Likes Pretty Things 
Rachel McAdams is reduced to almost nothing, yet Jude Law gets all the time onscreen he wants. What’s wrong with this picture?
I do, however, think Robert Downey Jr. made for a most entertaining and even semi-accurate (except for the way he kept his apartment — Holmes was fastidious to a fault) Sherlock Holmes. The keen observation skills, the intelligence, the lightning-fast quips all worked for me.