What I've Watched: Sherlock Holmes

A Campbell family Christmas tradition is to go check out movies. It started many moons ago and continues to this day, and it's always fun to talk to my mom and plot which movies we shall conquer during my stint back in Louisville. First up, Sherlock Holmes with the always-cool Robert Downey, Jr.

There was little doubt we were going to see this one. For one thing, it looked like a cool movie. Second, my mom has loved Robert Downey, Jr. since time began. She thought he was hot stuff all the way back when he was in Chances Are. I saw enough of his movies as a kid to convince myself that, for a time, being like him would be good. Except, you know, for the whole debilitating substance abuse problem. Glad I went a different direction.

Anyway, thankfully Downey, Jr. has made a nice little comeback in recent years, and along with looking forward to the kick-ass looking Iron Man 2, I was interested in seeing how this movie turned out. This is mainly because, with mom's heavy hand, I ended up watching a good deal of Sherlock Holmes movies as a child and even read a few of the novels as I grew up and figured out that reading was a good thing to do. Especially influential was watching Young Sherlock Holmes, a guilty pleasure movie if there ever was one for me. It's not the greatest thing ever made, but it was actually the first film to ever use CGI (yeah, look it up). So at least I can have a guilty pleasure movie that has some historical significance.

Pairing Downey, Jr. with a classic character like Holmes and you've got a movie I will see. And it's a lot of fun. Not an Oscar winner or anything, but a fun movie. Downey, Jr. does a solid job as the eclectic detective, and brings a witty charm and grit to the character that stands in contrast with the usual stuffy, older English types that portray the character. Jude Law is even passable as Watson, and he's not an actor I particularly enjoy watching. But here as Watson he does a decent job being cool. Rachel McAdams is the wet blanket of the movie. It is another thankless role for a female in a male-dominated film, and someone had to play the part. The dude who plays the bad guy and several of the other bit players do their job and keep the scenes interesting.

What I think the movie does best is make the puzzles and intricacies of solving the crimes much more interesting. Shows that fancy gadgets and techno-wizardry doesn't always have to solve every problem. Instead using your wits and actually showing that to the viewer and explaining it can make it very fun for the audience. I say check it out and enjoy the fun.