I’ll admit it, I’m not a Guy Ritchie fan. I understand that a lot of people adore Lock Stock and Snatch, they were simply not my cup of tea, so when I heard he was doing Sherlock Holmes, it brought about the same kind of vomit inducing reaction as hearing that Russell Crowe is doing Robin Hood. Then the hateful gods of film piled Jude Law in there as well, HORROR, BLASPHEMY, BASTARDS and many other vile expressions were produced in my mind. While not a hard core, I have read every book Conan Doyle wrote I am a solid Holmes fan and was sitting in my highest state of judgement about the casting of this film.
Having convinced the man to ditch his family on Boxing Day (British public holiday after Christmas) we headed off with a tiny bit of hope that perhaps beloved return to screen star Jnr would manage to induce some joy out of this terrible adaption.
GOOD GOD WAS I WRONG!! from the first shot I was in love with this rip roaring, gun toting, pipe smoking, tweed wearing epic. To say that Arrow and I enjoyed this is to say that we think Indiana Jones was just ok, I was at the edge of my seat from the word go. Law totally blew my mind, stepping out of his usual sleazy back door acting he stepped up to the role of Watson with verve and style, playing beautifully against Jnr’s drug addled genius Holmes, my favourite parts being where you would see how Holmes mind plots out each move during a fight.
Mc Addams though as much as I adore her was overtaken by Jnr in any scene they were in, she in my opinion struggled to compete with him, She did her best to stand with them all and in some ways held her own but her performance was mostly watered down, I had the thought that Rachel Wiez may have done better but that could have been because of the similarities to the Mummy. Mark Strong was fabulous as the slimey villain Lord Blackwood ( a nod to the earlier novels of Conan Doyle) His manner and utter Britishness gave him such a great presence amongst the madness of Holmes. The Fan girl in me begged for more on Moriaty and the small snippets we were given were met with gasps from Arrow and I and absolutely left us with a desire to see the second film.
Visually this film is total eye candy, from the fantastic views of the Thames to the sweeping streets of 1800s England met with the dark back alleys of the boxing houses. A glorious fan girl squeal issued forth when the camera settled on 221B Baker st, full with the mad meanderings of Holmes, that poor dog!
Overall I take my hat off, eat humble pie and generally grovel at Ritchies feet begging him for forgiveness, my initial fears were completely wiped out. This film bought me back to Indie and the mummy, epic films with great characters and fantastic stories. I would highly recommend this to everyone of all ages, huge fans or not it is a feast of a film and fabulous fun!
