Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are trying to solve a case involving some gruesome murders perpetrated by Lord Blackwood - a magician performing black magic. Lord Blackwood is caught and hung near the beginning, but is magically resurrected, thus consolidating his power. Of course, using his logical powers of deduction, and helped by the eminent Dr Watson, Holmes is able to solve the case and dispatch Lord Blackwood.

Robert Downey Jr. is good as Sherlock Holmes; he imports some of the cocky arrogance from Tony Stark into his character. This works really well as Sherlock is always so sure of himself. My only problem with Downey Jr is that when he is thinking/talking quickly - using his logical powers of reasoning - he mumbles a lot. Perhaps this is just part of him trying to do a British accent; but several times we had to put the subtitles on! Because of this I actually thought that Jude Law was better. He plays Dr Watson with understated cool. Though he is smitten by the woman in his life, Watson is pretty mean in a fight too. Mark Strong is good as the evil Lord Blackwood, but he doesn’t get the same opportunity to stand out as he does in Rock n Rolla.

"How dare you say I can't do a British accent!"

Guy Ritchie’s direction is pretty good too; perhaps not the convoluted plots of some of his gangster films, but some of the fights are very Ritchie-stylish. Victorian London also never looked so good. Hans Zimmer’s score is good without being spectacular. Overall I thought this was a pretty good film; entertaining, fun, the characters are classics, and are interpreted fairly well for a more modern audience.

Elementary my dear Watson; your hat is on too tight.

Body of Lies

Body of Lies is a good, solid action-thriller. Leonardo diCaprio is Roger Ferris: a CIA field operative initially based in Iraq, but then moved to Jordan. His main contact is through the Langley-based office agent Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe). The main plot involves trying to capture a well-known terrorist leader by any means possible. This involves sacrificing various “assets”, liaising with the Head of Security in Jordan (Hani; played by Mark Strong), manipulating Hani; and then eventually Hani manipulating Ferris to get to the terrorist.

This all sounds really simple but everything is so much better than that. There is plenty of intrigue to keep us wondering what is actually going on; despite knowing the end game. Leo is really good as the main character, putting his life on the line everyday, taking it personally when he has to betray people; whereas Russell Crowe is safe in Langley not giving a shit about the trust that is being betrayed on the ground. I did initially find Russell’s accent a bit weird; I thought it was really going to annoy me, but in the end it was fine. Wow what a pointless comment that was! I really liked the juxtaposition of Leo in Jordan being shot up and knackered, swearing down the phone to Russell as he is picking his kids up from school/giving his kids breakfast etc.

Of course what really makes this film, is Ridley Scott’s direction. He shoots a lot of the action scenes very close in with the characters, giving it a very intense feeling; very similar to Black Hawk Down. He also has a very good eye for detail, as there are many bustling streets and crowded market places involved with the story (action and explosions!). There are also some great sweeping desert shots, adding to the grand feeling of the story before the satellite image zooms in to centre on diCaprio.

This was another of those LoveFilm DVDs that a friend had put on our list; so I had no idea what it was about. I think perhaps this is one of the best ways to see a film, with no preconceptions at all. So I can say perfectly analytically that I enjoyed Body of Lies. Well developed characters; twisty-turney story, and very well put together. I would recommend it to a friend!