Holmes, Reinvented!

One of the very few things, or rather the only thing that can be done for entertainment in this boring little city of Stamford is watching movies (that's what I realized from my stay here so far) and that's precisely what a colleague and me did during the first weekend of mine here.

A home-theater kind of an environment (96-seater auditorium), a screen which was slightly bigger than the one at home, a handful of people and we were all set to watch SHERLOCK HOLMES. We were welcomed into the auditorium with some dirty looks from a teenaged couple, seated right at the back (you know for what!), to ensure that we didn't plonk ourselves right next to them. Thankfully, we were intelligent enough to understand that and made ourselves comfortable right in the middle of the auditorium and also ensured that we didn't turn around to look at them till the end. We got to watch trailers of almost 10 new releases before the movie began; probably they were waiting for a few more people to come in at the last moment but that wasn't to happen.

The movie, directed by Guy Ritchie (more popularly, the ex-husband of Madonna), is basically Sherlock Holmes reinvented which might actually make Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turn in his grave and definitely will not go down well with the purists but what the heck, it is damn entertaining!!! With his reckless attitude, he may not be the refined Holmes of Doyle's conjuring, but this feisty re-imagining or rather, re-imaging is impressive I must say. He is no suave (a la James Bond) but definitely a man of action; does some bone-crunching and gets his hand dirty, literally. He has a rough energy; is clumsy to the core but his intellectual prowess, observation powers, deductive reasoning and forensic skills are very much intact. And he still is Doyle's super-sleuth, a brainy and more importantly, a brawny Sherlock Holmes!!!

Robert Downey Jr. in the title role is a delight to watch. His mannerisms and body language suit the role to the T and re-establishes the fact that he is one of the best in the business. Jude Law, as Dr. Watson, is a perfect match to Downey and the crackling chemistry between them is definitely the highlight of the movie!!!

And with the ending hinting at the arrival of Holmes' arch-rival Prof. Moriarty, the sequel should be worth waiting for.

Elementary, my dear Watson!!!