The latest adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, Sherlock Holmes, sees Robert Downey Jr. in the role of the famous detective and Jude Law as his trustworthy assistant Dr. Watson. The plot of the movie directed by Guy Ritchie is not following one of Doyle’s narration but presents an original story with Holmes facing a new enemy, Lord Blackwell (played by Mark Strong) who is planning a satanic conspiracy endangering the entire country.
The film therefore takes the freedom to reinvent and almost revolutionize the iconic character. If you expect to see the well-known detective in his tweed outfit with his unfailing magnifying glass and typical British composure, you will soon be deceived. Sherlock Homes only saves here his legendary perspicacity and intelligence. He is otherwise depicted as a womanizer with gambling issue and the thug attitude of those who never back down in front of a fight. The film is of course set in nineteenth century London, a dark and unrecognizable metropolis which levels of daily crime, violence and homicides makes it look closer to a far-west town rather than to the hometown of British monarchy.
Nonetheless, the work is a great homage to Doyle’s novels in the way it is dominated by the charisma of the protagonist, with his out-of-the-common mind, and his companionship with Watson. The successful mix of Hollywood action movie style and the depth of its literary origin has so far been recognized in the film’s much acclaimed debut in cinemas.
