Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes could have been a disaster, but this rollicking action-adventure featuring Conan Doyle’s legendary detective turned out to be a surprisingly entertaining romp. Admittedly, the plot is rubbish: sub-Dan Brown tosh in which Holmes and companion Dr Watson strive to foil a plot by a villainous Satanist to bring down Parliament. Yet as the case takes Robert Downey Jr’s dashing, devil-may-care detective and Jude Law’s unexpectedly handy Watson back and forth across Victorian London, from the depths of crypts and sewers to the heights of the Palace of Westminster and the half-completed London Bridge, the pair’s bickering by-play proves hugely engaging. Roll on the sequel, which is already in the pipeline and is so far rumoured to feature either Brad Pitt or Ralph Fiennes as Holmes’s arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty.
Released on 17th May.
Robert Downey Jr drops the deerstalker and puts up his fists in the great detective’s latest caper. Read the full Sherlock Holmes review.
