★★★★☆
To celebrate the development of Sherlock Holmes 3 I have decided to watch the first two of the Sherlock Holmes trilogy starting with Sherlock Holmes[2009],Starring Robert Downey JR,Jude Law,Mark Strong, Rachael McAdams,Eddie Marsan,Kelly Rielly,Hans Matheson,Gredaline James Fox,Robert Maillet and William Hope,Directed by Guy Ritchie,Story by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson,Screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson,Simon Kenberg and Antony Peckham,Score composed and conducted by Hans Zimmer,Based on Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
The film starts with Discombulate by Hans Zimmer. Using a 200 key broken piano he created quite a quirky Gipsy like theme,feeling fresh from some of the scores that year. We see Sherlock Holmes planning of events and him running after Jude Law and Eddie Marsan. Sherlock is presented in a unique way,thinking things before they happens which define character as gifted. He is shown as strange,unshaven and unlike the previous Basil Rathbone films he is a modern,fresh character not as heroic as other main characters. The use of weapons,the flying of the sticks is so amazing and mind blowing,refreshing from the usual guns and exploding cars. Jude Law seems more like the Rathbone Holmes than Watson not awkward but acts like a squabbling idiot around Holmes as exploited in the BBC Sherlock Holmes series. Mark Strong as Lord Bla-ckwood is amazing,a shot of devilish charisma and evil ploy,so much darkness in his performance. We see that Holmes is an unsociable eccentric,hopeless to anyone but Watson. The humour in this film is delightful and witty as Watson opens the curtains to Holmes. He screams and screams as the light shines. As we see Hol-mes is unsociable towards Mrs.Hudson his Housekeeper. As we see Holmes is lost without a case shooting the walls. He's an inventor,an eccentric and a stranger to the world. We now know that Watson is engaged to Mary Mortsan,a governess. Seeing Holmes abilities in-front of the dinner table is interesting as he hears and sees everything. The chatting,the issues and so. Holmes is also very unsociable towards Mary as he does not like the idea of Watson leaving the house. Holmes is unusual seeing every dimple every oddspot on the skin he sees every emotion everything. We see him searching through Watson's stuff and finding a boxing ticket. This is one of the best parts. The boxing scene,the use of the cinematography is awesome,a skill of Phillippee Rousseeot which gives it such an impressive edge to the film. We switch to Blackwood in prison. Strong's performance is uncanny just stays through the entire an undying performance.
We see Blackwood's hanging,a great scene with the use of score. We see that Blackwood is not a fearing person of death,saying it is only the beginning. Strong does not give away any key emotion during this scene which I do not mind but suits the character. As we see Irene Adler appears. The chemistry is mediocre but develops as we do not see these two as a potential item. Rachel McAdams is known as a goody girl,little girl skipping in the daisies. Her performance is rough,tough and rumble. The way it is so awkward,they feel like actual people who knew each other. She's smart and cares working for a shadowy figure. Holmese's use of costumes and so is smart,witty and fun,not
being a Nolan picture. The plans are unknown till a certain moment of time. I do believe that they are an item throughout second half but the first half is a mediocre not as convincing as the other performances in the film. We hear that Blackwood has been risen from the dead. The way the film was marketed it seems like a supernatural coincidence. It's a smart way it all works out as we see the coffin. They are a good pair,Law and Downey in their performances swinging along. The case that Alder has been suggesting. They find the body of the 'Midget' missing covered in worms. It is the start of a mystery and the image is slightly unbearable to see. As we see the grave keeper is frightened and is part of events. His lines are a little bit unusual as how is he to know?But anyway as Sherlock and Watson walk along they get visited by a gypsy fortune teller. The humour is greatly done,greatly timed as Holmes is despe-rate to stop Watson from marrying Mary. As they walk they discover that the ginger 'Midget' was working for Blackwood. The way he imagines the events is great and l personally enjoy the way he does it. As we see a redo of events we see that Blackwood is trying to hide the evidence of his plan throughly no matter what. Robert Maillet is the big guy that beats Holmes. A giant in shape throwing Holmes across the table is a good action scene as we see Holmes use gadgets and co. The electronic thing changes it to a sort of steam punk like tone as anything can happen. The fight continues as Robert smashes a boat and makes it fall. We see that Watson is tired with Holmes and sees that Holmes wants to ruin his marriage with Mary. Mary frees him and we see Marsan frees Holmes. As Holmes is blindfolded brought to the order that Blackwood worked for. As we see he is part of a family,a home and he killed the rest of the family. This is an emotional affair,a family affair. We see that Blackwood plans to alienate the family and he does starting with his father Hans Matheson. His role is underused as are others but I do not have a lot of complaints with that. We see Matheson die and Holmes is smart and quickly solves how it happens
We see that one of the brothers betrays the others and he is burned,trying to kill Blackwood. I like the risks
the film takes as such this is a image of great horror and is quite disturbing. As Blackwood plans to finish off his plan Holmes is driven to madness. We hear the previous dialogue of the characters as Holmes's brain is still working out and then light bulb!We see him recreate the ceremonial ritual we saw in the opening scene and he works out that these murders are trying to recreate a mythical creature:'Midget'man,Father eagle and so. We continue on as Holmes works out Parliament is the final target and the younger brother,brother to the burnt one and his dead father is a lord. A high figure of authority. We see Marsan or Lestrade capture and free Holmes as we discover that the brother was at the ritual. We see Holmes escape going to the small London sewers seeing that Blackwood's witchcraft is not all it seems. We have a fast paced thrilling clash showcasing Watson's fighting skills than just Holmes's. Robert returns for another outing as Alder destroys the machine and in the end starts the battle on the London bridge. It is brilliantly recreated,the building of the bridge as if was being built then. Blackwood comes up and clashes with Holmes,it brilliantly choreographed and great spectacle. We see that Blackwood's witchcraft was actually science and we see that Blackwood got really hanged. We discover the shadowy figure is Moriarty and we see in a cliffhanger that sets up the 2011 sequel.
I give this 5 stars because of it's action spectacle starting off a franchise,a well done by not following a Nolan like pursuit,Being a smart mystery thriller,Using great actors and great powerful screenplay writing I have never seen before in a new,refreshing way.