Sherlock Holmes (2009)

I had no literary prejudices going into the new big-screen “Sherlock Holmes,” starring Robert Downey Jr. as the fictional sleuth. I’ve (sadly) yet to read a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story. That said, gritty director Guy Ritchie serves us a “new” Holmes who is an underground boxer prone to dark rooms, not bathing and sleeping on the floor. He is gruff and dirty, as is the 1890s London around him. He’s like no Holmes I’ve seen before, and Downey is wonderful in the lead. The standard plot, which gallops but never breaks into a full run, has the duo of Holmes and Watson (Jude Law, wonderful) unmasking a dark arts master (Mark Strong) bent on world domination in line with a Batman villain. Ritchie provides brilliant scenes where Downey as Holmes mentally breaks down an action – say, a fistfight – before seeing it through. But as the climatic fight arrives, the trick is dropped. And it’s a bit disappointing. This is a fairly solid movie that is more of a franchise set-up then full-fledged film. Moriarity appears in shadow, and it got my head spinning about who will play him. I’d love to see Russell Crowe take the part. That would be a helluva match up. B