Reel To Reel: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock goes Steampunk!

Going Rate: Worth full price for fans of Iron Man
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams
Rated: PG-13
Red Flags: Fisticuffs, Explosions, Gross Shots of Dead Animals, Black Magic and Downey Jr.'s Mostly Naked Body

Let us suppose the world's most famous consulting detective was created by Stan Lee instead of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. That would explain this reboot of the Holmes character (Downey Jr.), who now possesses brawn in equal portion to brain. His deduction is still sharp, but it comes with a twisted, slightly sinister edge and several right hooks and kidney punches. Somebody also told him to ditch the hunters' cap. Dr. Watson (Law) is the beleaguered yet faithful assistant: "When have I ever complained about you practicing the violin at three in the morning, or your mess? Your general lack of hygiene or the fact that you steal my clothes?" He's newly engaged and moving out of 221B Baker Street, about to settle down in dignified Victorian manner.

That settling-down bit will have to wait, however, until Holmes can crack a horrifying mystery. Occult serial murderer Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), whom Holmes has caught and helped send to the gallows, has risen from the grave and is plotting something very very big and very very scary using a substance being cooked up in a backroom lab. Blackwood happens to be a member of a super-secret dark arts group, which is never officially named but puts him on the same level as He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named from the Harry Potter books.

Indeed, the entire film has a quasi-Potter vibe. Sometimes I wondered who scared me more: Blackwood or Holmes, who regularly engages in creepy quasi-scientific pursuits. Never ever leave him alone with your pets. He talks a mile a minute, but his brain runs at 3000 miles per hour. He can cold-read you like a can of tuna. In other words, Downey Jr. is channeling his Tony Stark character from Iron Man, but with more eloquence. We know from the original texts Holmes was a drug addict, but this is merely implied with a few stoner-faced expressions. He has little time for a love life, but you can see his affection for Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), a versatile master criminal who's his intellectual match sans British accent. Holmes spends part of the film trying to figure out her angle while tracking down Blackwood.

Sherlock Holmes captures the flavor, although not all the elements of, steampunk fiction as it imagines an alternate reality for a classic character and cooks up some diabolical devices and potions. Director Guy Ritchie also keeps the film moving, keeping pace with Holmes' fast-talking and flying fists. This is not Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes, but it's not some outrageous aberration, either. However, if the kids start digging into the written Holmes, you may need to give them a disclaimer about Victorian England before CGI and DTS.