Holmes Sweet Holmes

Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes does not seem to be the quintessential Sherlock you think you've grown up reading about. He doesn't wear his hat after all, appears most shabby in his upkeep and appearance, lacks hygiene, his home is like a junkyard, fights human bullfights, doesn't mind getting injured along the way and shares an uncanny relationship with his best friend and partner-in-crime (ofcourse solving, not the committing) Dr Watson and perhaps envies at the thought of losing his precious companionship without whom he cannot forsee a decent existence, to his fiance. 


But scratch the surface and you slowly realise that here's exactly the Sherlock Holmes you've read about. He is meticulous in his appoach, he has a great sense of humour, deciphers 20 clues on a crime scene before you can blink of your eye, precisely deduce from where his guest has come from, did what and where, down to the last 'T'. But there is still something extra that you see in Guy Ritchie's version of Sherlock Holmes. The way the story and the camera moves, you feel you're a part of the action. Ritchie also brilliantly gives us an insight into Holmes' mind before he goes about executing his opponents, meticulously breaking blow by blow the consequences before he delivers the final punch.  


Sherlock Holmes is an edge of the seat thriller that is not quite bound by a solid mystery. It is not a a great theft that is zeroed upon going through a massive pile of exciting clues and where you finally put the jigsaw puzzle, piece by piece, till you get the final picture that blows your mind away. This is not a murder mystery. Instead this is an action movie that follows the act of a devious mind, Lord Blackwood who gets arrested, convicted, put behind bars and finally hung only to resurrect once more and continue on his mission to take control of Britain, then America, followed by the rest of the world. Can Sherlock Holmes stop him or does the genius of Lord Blackwood succeed in mission terror? 


Despite the odd story, Sherlock Holmes is more of a action-packed dare-devil detective solving clues to get to his journey rather than the good old-fashioned Holmes solving what seems to be almost impossible murder; one that atleast used to provide fans such as me, the ultimate excitement. Yet, I found this Holmes to be a good watch. It's a taut 2-hour masala thriller. It is exciting and thrilling. Robert Downey Jr is absolutely fantastic as Sherlock Holmes, minus ofcourse his fake and put on british accent that sometimes sounds confused between American and British. Jude Law as Dr Watson also turns in a very good performance. There's chemistry between the two and together they light up the screen. Guy Ritchie recreates old century London very well- loved the several reminders of London bridge getting constructed- the pacing of the movie is fantastic, background score by Hans Zimmer brings alive the cinematic proceedings, there's hardly a dull moment here. 


K Rate: * * * *