Sherlock Holmes Review: An Elementary Adaptation

Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes is a first-rate buddy film built around slick dialogue, strong performances and a gripping case to be solved.

Sherlock Holmes, a “consulting detective” cooked up by Scottish author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of the most represented human characters in the history of cinema. The Guinness World Records labelled him as such a little over ten years ago, with only Dracula (a non-human character) surpassing him by way of film depictions. Sherlock Holmes is a literary and cinematic institution, and yet it would be a safe wager to assume that most modern fans can only picture the character in one of two ways — either as Benedict Cumberbatch or as Robert Downey Jr.

In 2009, Guy Ritchie stepped away from his tried and tested home of British crime films to launch his version of Sherlock Holmes. Downey was cast as the enigmatic mystery-solver who gives the movie his name, and partnering him was Jude Law’s Doctor John Watson, a true picture of the loyal companion-cum-sidekick, both tormented by Holmes’ unpredictable behaviour and steadfast in his desire to assist his brother in arms, often against his better judgement. Downey and Law share natural camaraderie that can easily and instantaneously be bought into: Law is the exasperated straight man to Downey’s costume-wearing agent of chaos, and both share a found-fraternal bond that grounds the quasi-action film through their partnership.

The movie opens in the midst of a case: Sherlock and Watson prevent the ritualistic sacrifice of a young woman by a satanic occultist, the aristocratic Lord Blackwood, played by frequent Ritchie collaborator Mark Strong. This early sequence first demonstrates a unique combat technique that would become part of the iconography of Ritchie’s Sherlock, with Downey’s internal monologue breaking down a fight sequence step-by-step as we watch the choreography in slow motion, before we snap back to reality and witness Sherlock dismantle an opponent with calculated precision. Ritchie concocts a living, breathing Victorian-era London that wonderfully serves as the film’s backdrop, however, it’s these innovative narrative mechanics that linger in the memory more than the period setting.

Several months after stopping Blackwood from continuing his serial murder spree, Watson is engaged to be married and looking towards a life away from Sherlock, with the eccentric detective going stir-crazy inside his 221B Baker Street abode, experimenting on Watson’s bulldog Gladstone and haphazardly firing off gunshots into the wall. Blackwood has asked to meet Sherlock before he is hanged — where Watson will be the presiding doctor tasked with pronouncing his death — and shortly after Sherlock finds himself drawn into a web of mysteries, resurrection and the seemingly supernatural as government gentry men are targeted for death.

The success of Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes almost entirely relies upon the conviction of Downey’s performance, and the Manhattan-born, Academy Award-winning actor provides Sherlock with an English accent that won’t convince all, but that does feel appropriate given the period setting. Downey is wide-eyed and oracular, perhaps inspired in part by Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, but without so much of the oafishness and rabid gesticulating. Holmes is as charismatic as Sparrow though; both have a likeable quality that makes it easy to root for their success, particularly in situations where the odds are stacked against them.

Such strength in character, which also extends to the professional rigidity of Watson, the playful combativeness of Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan) and the indeterminable femme fatale Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), helps soothe the limitations of the central plot. Sherlock Holmes isn’t adapted from a singular canonical work written by Doyle, who preferred to set his quirky hero smaller mysteries to solve. Michael Robert Johnson and Ritchie collaborator Lionel Wigram, who both received ‘story by’ credit, instead elected to pit Sherlock up against a world-threatening conspiracy tinged with supernatural danger. It’s an ambitious read on the characters that doesn’t always feel well-suited, though the gloominess of Lord Blackwood does make for a compelling foil for Sherlock in place of his typical archenemy.

Aside from the acting performances, Sherlock Holmes boasts admirable technical proficiency, particularly in how Ritchie’s production crew were able to bring the late 1800s to life. Seven-time Oscar nominees Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer were nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Art Direction (now Production Design) for their work on the film, having used the dirty cobbled streets of Victorian London to create a visual language, aiding the brooding tone established by the dark murderous quest of discovery at the movie’s centre. Such darkness never feels heavy though, with Hans Zimmer’s jaunty score (also Oscar-nominated) introducing a live wire bounce that keeps energy high as we transition from dank backstreets to murky alleyways. 

Sherlock Holmes doesn’t break new ground in regards to its mystery-solving efforts, and how it ultimately compares to other adaptations of Sherlock’s stories can certainly be debated, but Ritchie brings enthusiasm, quick wit and an admirable degree of stylisation to a character who can, at times, be limited to little more than a plodding investigator in a deerstalker and trench coat. Sherlock Holmes remains a strong calling card for Ritchie, as well as an under-appreciated chapter in the respective careers of its star-studded cast.

Sherlock Holmes (2009) is now available to watch on digital and on demand.

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