Sherlock Holmes

Rating: 8.3/10

Genre: Crime

Overall rating for money and time: 8.5/10

Sherlock Holmes and his best bud Dr John Watson are an ingenious duo devoted to solving the great crime mysteries of London. They are stumped, however by an equally matched criminal by the name of Lord Blackwood who uses black magic to revolutionize England and possibly the entire world.

The trailer featured Sherlock Holmes explaining his attacks and I was wondering why there was a need - I assumed it would have made the film too exaggerated or lame... But after catching the movie, I had a few pleasant surprises. This movie enhanced the reputation of the great detective we are all familiar with and literally brings him to life, finally. Throughout the entire movie, it glorified the wits of Sherlock Holmes as well as his partner. Actually, almost everyone was awesomely cool in this movie, including the villian.

*spoilers ahead* I didn't expect Rachel McAdams to be an equally witted adversary, had the impression she was just his female companion. This made the pair highly entertaining and interesting to watch as they gradually came to terms with their feelings towards each other. Jude Law on the other hand had an equally major role as Robert Downey Jr. even though the title suggests otherwise. The chemistry between both of the leads were genuinely engaging and applaudable. Fully attributable to the director for a good call and great foresight on the casting.

Extremely convincing performances by the cast members and an exceptional plot to go along with it. I love how we were made to think on the wrong track throughout the movie and have it all being explained at the end of it. Not everything was revealed though, in a good sense as there was promise of a sequel - another ingenious villian to come up against Sherlock Holmes.

What I also liked about the movie is that one gets to experience different genres of it... first, it was a cool crime scene, then it became "Harry Potter-ish" (cause of the magic), it had a hint of "Saw" in it, then turned a little "Psycho" horror (where the villian would "pop" up suddenly) and finally a witty conclusion.

Of course, no movie is perfect. There were some redundant and uncalled-for scenes such as the most impressionable one where Sherlock Holmes was shot in slow motion, braving through the exploding barrels to save his damsel in distress, and the action sequences didn't meet up to my expectations. Still, they did not cause considerable hurt to the movie.

Overall, a revival of a classic and a true gem in crime movies, I'll definitely be looking forward to its promising sequel!!! It turned out to be better than expected and it's a great movie to end the year with!!!