Review: Sherlock Holmes

I saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie and would be remiss if I did not outright state what would otherwise become very obvious during the course of this review: that I never saw the first Sherlock Holmes movie.

This one was good, although it certainly was nothing like what I expected. I think it's fair to say that this is not your daddy's Sherlock Holmes. I remember reading some Sherlock Holmes books when younger, and the impression I had was nothing like the one that the movie portrays. This holds true also for Watson, although to a lesser degree for him. He was, and remains, very old-style British.

Not true for Robert Downey Jr.'s version of Sherlock Holmes, however. He seems more than a tad eccentric, always trying some crazy disguise and doing things in the most unexpected and unconventional manner possible, including cross dressing. Of course, he had the natural instincts for seeing things that most people don't, picking up on clues and being able to piece these together and quickly drawing the truth from it, and always able to figure out what precisely is happening, no matter how well hidden it remains. Of course, this is what the movie is based on (not to mention the original books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), and to good effect. It serves him well throughout, as he fights an evil but capable professor who proves a worthy adversary, as well as aggressive Germans who bear a uncanny, striking resemblance to Nazis, both in uniforms and in actions, though who would actually make their appearance in Germany more than forty years after the alleged dates of this story. Still, historical accuracy is not exactly what this movie is supposed to be, because it is intended to be a fun movie. In this, it achieves it's aims, although it is a bit much at times. Still, recommended, overall (but not for history or Sherlock Holmes purists).