Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes (大侦探福尔摩斯) is a 2009 action mystery film adapted from the character of the same name created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film was directed by Guy Ritchie. The screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg was developed from a story by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law portray Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, respectively. Holmes investigates a series of murders, apparently connected to occult rituals. Lord Blackwood is the mysterious villain.

Directed by: Guy Ritchie

Produced by: Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey, Dan Lin

Written by: Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg, Lionel Wigram , Arthur Conan Doyle

Music by: Hans Zimmer

Cinematography: Philippe Rousselot

Editing by: James Herbert

Studio: Silver Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures

Release dates:

December 24, 2009 December 25, 2009 (United States)

December 26, 2009 (United Kingdom) (Australia)

Running time: 128 minutes

Country: United Kingdom United States

Language: English

Genre: Action Crime Mystery Thriller

Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes.

Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, Holmes' ally, a surgeon and a war veteran.

Mark Strong as Lord Henry Blackwood, the main antagonist.

Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, a femme fatale (an alluring or seductive woman) from New Jersey who outwitted Holmes twice. In the film, Adler is no longer married to Godfrey Norton and needs Holmes' help for the case.

Kelly Reilly as Mary Morstan. Watson wishes to settle down with her, causing a conflict with Holmes.

Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade.

Hans Matheson as Lord Coward, the Home Secretary. Blackwood's right-hand man, who assisted Blackwood in all his murders and was the only one of his allies aware of Blackwood's usage of technology to feign magical powers.

Geraldine James as Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock Holmes' landlady.

James Fox as Sir Thomas Rotherham, father of Lord Henry Blackwood and Head of the Four Orders.

Robert Maillet as Dredger, a French henchman working for Blackwood.

In 1891 London, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) race to prevent the ritual murder of a girl by Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), who has killed five other people similarly. They are able to stop the murder just in time. Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan) and the police arrive to make the arrest. Three months later, Blackwood is sentenced to death and requests to see Holmes, who visits him in prison. He warns Holmes of three more impending deaths that will cause great changes to the world. Blackwood is hanged and declared dead by Dr. Watson.

Holmes receives a surprise visit at 221B Baker Street from Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), a professional thief and his former lover, who asks him to find a missing man named Reordan. After her departure, Holmes discretely follows her as she meets with a man, her secret employer, hidden in the shadows of a carriage. The concealed man states that Reordan is the key to Blackwood's plans.

Three days later, Blackwood's tomb is destroyed and Reordan is found dead inside Blackwood's coffin. As Blackwood mysteriously returns from the grave and resumes his killing spree, Holmes must take up the hunt once again. Following a series of clues from the body, Holmes and Watson find Reordan's home and discover experiments attempting to merge science with magic. Holmes is later taken to the Temple of the Four Orders, an occult-dabbling secret society. The leaders, Sir Thomas (James Fox) and Home Secretary Lord Coward (Hans Matheson), ask Holmes to stop Blackwood, a former member of the Order. Sir Thomas and and another senior member of the group are later killed through apparently magical means, allowing Blackwood to assume control. He plans to push for Britain to retake the United States, weakened by civil war. Lord Coward, who was in league with Blackwood all along, issues a warrant for Holmes' arrest.

When Holmes learns he is wanted by the police he goes into hiding and studies Blackwood's rituals, concluding the next target is British Parliament. Holmes tricks Lord Coward into revealing that the plan is to wipe out the House of Lords and then rejoins Adler and Watson. The three sneak into the sewers beneath Parliament and discover a machine, based on Reordan's experiments, designed to release a cyanide derivative into the Parliament chambers. They fight off Blackwood's men, and remove the cyanide containers from the machine. Adler grabs the cylinders and races away, pursued by Holmes. Blackwood and Coward realize their plan has failed. Blackwood manages to get away while Coward is captured.

The finale is on the unfinished Tower Bridge. Holmes confronts Adler on top of the incomplete Tower Bridge but is interrupted by Blackwood. Holmes tricks him into becoming entangled in the ropes and chains, hanging over the Thames while Holmes recounts the technical trickery behind all of Blackwood's supposed magic. A loose beam falls off the rafter supports, causing Blackwood to fall and die by hanging from the chains.

Adler finally explains that her employer is Professor Moriarty, warning that Moriarty is as intelligent as Holmes but more devious. Later, the police report to Holmes and Watson that a dead officer was found near Blackwood's device. Professor Moriarty used the confrontations with Adler and Blackwood as a diversion while he took a key component from the machine. This prompts Holmes to accept the new case.

Producer Lionel Wigram remarked that for around ten years, he had been thinking of new ways to depict Sherlock Holmes. After leaving his position as executive for Warner Bros. in 2006, Wigram sought a larger scope to the story so it could attract a large audience, and amalgamated various Holmes stories to flesh it out further.

Lord Blackwood's character was developed as a nod to Victorian interests in spiritualism. The producer felt he has an almost supernatural ability to solve crimes, against a supposedly supernatural villain. Wigram wrote and John Watkiss drew a 25-page comic book about Holmes in place of a spec script. Professor Moriarty's existence is hinted in the script to set up the sequels.

In March 2007, Warner Bros. chose to produce, seeing similarities in the concept with Batman Begins. Arthur Conan Doyle's estate had some involvement in sorting out legal issues, although the stories are in the public domain in the United States. Neil Marshall was set to direct, but Guy Ritchie signed on to direct in June 2008. When a child at boarding school, Ritchie and other pupils listened to the Holmes stories through dormitory loudspeakers. Ritchie wanted to make his film more "authentic" to Doyle. Ritchie sought to make Sherlock Holmes a "very contemporary film as far as the tone and texture", because it has been "a relatively long time since there's been a film version that people embraced".

Robert Downey was visiting Joel Silver's offices with his wife, producer Susan Downey, when he learned about the project. Ritchie initially felt Downey was too old for the role because he wanted the film to show a younger Holmes on a learning curve like Batman Begins. Ritchie decided to take a chance on casting him in the role. Downey intends to focus more on Holmes' patriotic side and his bohemianism, and felt that his work on Chaplin has prepared him for an English accent. Ritchie feels his accent is "flawless". Both Downey and Ritchie are martial arts enthusiasts, and have been inspired by the Bartitsu mentioned in the 1901 story The Adventure of the Empty House. Downey lost weight for the part, because during a chat he had with Chris Martin, Martin recommended that Holmes look "gaunt" and "skinny".

Jude Law's Watson is more like the original character, who was more of a colleague. Law previously appeared in the Granada Television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in an episode based on The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place. Being a Holmes fan, Law recognized there was material unexplored in other adaptations and was intrigued by Downey's casting; Law was cast because he had a positive meeting with Downey and concurred the film would have to explore Holmes and Watson's friendship. Downey believed by emphasizing Watson's qualities as a former soldier, a doctor, a womaniser and a gambler, it would make for a more interesting foil for Holmes. Law made a notebook of phrases from the stories to improvise into his dialogue. Ritchie originally envisioned Russell Crowe in the role

Ritchie wanted his Holmes' costume to play against the popular image of the character. Downey selected the character's hat, a beat-up fedora. The director kept to the tradition of making Holmes and Watson's apartment quite messy, and had it decorated with artifacts and scientific objects from the continents they would have visited.

Filming began in October 2008. The crew shot at Freemasons' Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. Filming was done in Manchester's Northern Quarter, while the Town Hall was used for a fight scene. They shot the opening scene for three days at St Bartholomew-the-Great church in London, and shot on the river Thames at Wapping for a scene involving a steamboat on 7 November.[33] Filming continued at Stanley Dock and Clarence Dock in Liverpool. Street scenes were filmed in cobbled alleyways in Chatham and Manchester. Brompton Cemetery in London was used for a key scene, and the palatial 19th-century interior of the Reform Club stood in for the Café Royal. Scenes from the interior of 221B Baker Street were shot on a sound stage at Leavesden Studios.

In late November 2008, actor Robert Maillet, who played Dredger, was filming a fight scene at Chatham Dockyard in Kent, and accidentally punched Robert Downey, Jr. in the face, causing Downey to be bloodied and knocked down, but not knocked unconscious as originally reported. The Sun reported that on November 28, a tank truck caught fire, forcing filming to stop for two hours.[36] When filming at St John's Street in December, the schedule had to be shortened from 13 to nine days because locals complained about how they would always have to park cars elsewhere during the shoot. In January 2009, filming moved to Brooklyn.

Director Guy Ritchie used the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer as temporary music during editing. Zimmer was pleased when Ritchie asked him to do the score but told him to do something completely different. Zimmer described his score to Ritchie as the sound of the Pogues joining a Romanian orchestra. For the musical accompaniment, composer Hans Zimmer used a banjo, cimbalom, squeaky violins, and a "broken pub piano". At first Zimmer had his own piano detuned, but found that it sounded out of tune. He asked his assistant to locate a broken piano. The first piano they located was passed over as it obviously had been cared for, but the second one was the one they used in the production. Zimmer said "We rented 20th Century Fox's underground car park one Sunday and did hideous things to a piano."

The film had its world premiere on December 14, 2009, in London and was subsequently released worldwide on December 25, 2009 (December 26 in the UK and Ireland), after being pushed from a November release date. An advance charity screening was held in select locations in Belgium on December 10, 2009.

The film opened to an estimated $62.4 million in its first weekend, placing in second at the US box office to Avatar, which grossed $75.6 million. The film earned a strong per-theater average of $18,031 from its 3,626 theaters. Its one-day Christmas sales broke records. As of December 25, 2009, Sherlock Holmes had grossed $461,061,213 worldwide making it Guy Ritchie's biggest box-office success yet making it the 10th highest grossing film of 2009

Sherlock Holmes: First, distract target.
Sherlock Holmes: Then block his blind jab. Counter with cross to left cheek. Discombobulate.
Sherlock Holmes: Dazed, he'll attempt wild haymaker.
Sherlock Holmes: Weaken right jaw. Then fracture. Break cracked ribs. Heel kick to diaphragm.
Sherlock Holmes: . Summary: ears ringing, jaw fractured, three ribs cracked, four broken, diaphragm hemorrhaging. Physical recovery six weeks. Full psychological recovery six months. Ability to spit at back of head neutralized.

Sherlock Holmes: You've won, congratulations.
Big Man: I'm not done yet!
Sherlock Holmes: This must register on an emotional level...
Sherlock Holmes: First, distract target...
Sherlock Holmes: Then block his blind jab...
Sherlock Holmes: Counter with cross to left cheek...
Sherlock Holmes: Discombobulate...
Sherlock Holmes: Dazed, will attempt wild haymaker. Weaken right jaw...
Sherlock Holmes: Now fracture...
Sherlock Holmes: Break cracked ribs...
Sherlock Holmes: Heel kick to diaphragm...
Sherlock Holmes: In summary: ears ringing, jaw fractured, three ribs cracked, four broken, diaphragm haemmorraging. Physical recovery: six weeks. Full psychological recovery: six months. Capacity to spit at back of head: neutralized.

When fighting the large man with the hammer at the boat dock, Holmes stumbles over one of the very large dock chains and moves it several inches, revealing it to be made of a lightweight material instead of iron.

After Irene visits Holmes, we follow her back to the carriage. In the next sequence, we see what Holmes has been doing during the time Irene was walking to her carriage and getting in. Thus both sequences occupy the same time and begin with the same scene. In the first sequence when Irene leaves Baker street, Holmes plays one set of random notes on his violin. In the second, he plays a slightly different set of notes even though these are supposed to be two representations of the same scene.

In the fight scene when we first meet Adler. We see her handkerchief on the ledge which distracts Holmes when he goes to look for her. He's punched and spins around where he falls to the ground. The handkerchief is missing. When he stands back up it has returned.

The film has received generally positive reviews from film critics.

"The director's approach to films was to make cool movies about cool guys with cool stuff and that Sherlock Holmes was essentially a series of poses and stunts which was intermittently diverting at best.

—A. O. Scott of the New York Times

"Downey Jr. and Law were perfect together and that Strong was a convincing and creepy villain".

—Jake Tomlinson of Shave Magazine

This version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's greatest creation may be more swashbuckling, more thrilling, and more edgy than any other incarnation, but that doesn't make it any less faithful to the original. Aside from a little revisionist history in the cases of the female leads, nothing is that far out of the ordinary; and no amount of references to Madonna will change that.

Even when Sherlock Holmes feels a little bit more like James Bond, he doesn't feel any less like Sherlock Holmes. Ritchie finds a way to depict Sherlock's fighting as a mental exercise as much as it's a physical feat. In the same way, though "Sherlock Holmes" is grander and more commercial than Guy Ritchie's usual films, it doesn't feel any less like Guy Ritchie.

Academy Awards, USA
Best Achievement in Art Direction, Sarah Greenwood (art director), Katie Spencer (set decorator)
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score, Hans Zimmer

Art Directors Guild
Period Films, Sarah Greenwood (production designer)

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
Best Score, Hans Zimmer

Costume Designers Guild Awards
Excellence in Costume Design for Film - Period, Jenny Beavan

Irish Film and Television Awards
Best International Actor, Robert Downey Jr.

Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
Best Sound Editing - Music in a Feature Film

Golden Globes, USA
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Robert Downey Jr.

Sherlock Holmes