Sherlock Holmes: The case of trying to start a franchise.
Movie Reviews December 31st. 2009, 7:01pmHyped as THE holiday premier blockbuster extravaganza is a high expectation to meet. Sherlock Holmes is entertaining and a decent movie, but falls short in the end. Had I seen it before Avatar and Up in the Air, I may have thought differently. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are very good in their roles and actually worked very well together. There was a chemistry that I didn’t quite expect and that really carried the film. The storyline was a bit over the top in the National Treasure sort of way that is distractingly unbelievable. Holmes’ powers of deduction are center stage and used for comic relief on occasion. The scenes of Elizabethan London were visually appealing and the costuming and set dressers deserve much credit for their work. Guy Ritchie knows how to put a movie together and seems to be doing some good work since the material girl is gone. The insinuation of a love interest for Holmes didn’t quite work for me and Rachel McAdams just didn’t come up to the level of Downey and Law. The Nefarious Moriarty is introduced as a shadowy figure and is clearly the basis for a sequel. The audience was enthusiastic and appeared to thoroughly enjoy the entire movie. I was hoping for a bit more. Nevertheless, Sherlock Holmes is worth seeing and it will probably be successful enough to spawn another adventure, if someone can manage to bring Law and Downey back together again.