Sherlock Holmes is a 2009 picture version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s story bound character of the same name. The movie was directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin.
In 1891 London, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) chase to put a hinder to a human sacrifice ritual conducted by Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong). Holmes and Watson hinder the sacrifice just in time and neutralize Lord Blackwood, after which the cop, led by Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), pull in and catch him.
Blackwood’s execution takes place three months later, during which Holmes has become bored without a new case. Watson prepares to leave 221B Baker Street to set up his own business, and he intends to tie knot with Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly). Blackwood requests Holmes’ presence on the day of his capital punishment, and warns him that three more deaths will occur after his capital punishment that will change the very nature of their world. Later, Blackwood is executed by hanging, declared dead by Watson himself.
Holmes is re-acquainted with Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), the only one who has managed to outwit him. She offers him a sum of cash to pursue a case of a missing red-haired midget by the name of Reardon. Holmes disguises himself to find the identity of Adler’s employer, but can only guess him as a professor. Three days after Blackwood’s execution, his crypt is found shattered, from the inside out, and an eyewitness reports seeing Blackwood walking away. Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade find Blackwood’s coffin contains the body of the red-haired midget. Holmes follows clues from a pocket timepiece on the body to the midget’s house, where they discover several chemistry tests. They closely shun capture by three thugs that have arrived to destroy the evidence in the home, but afterward are arrested for property damage. Watson is freed on bail by Miss Morstan, while Holmes is taken to the Temple of the Four Orders, an occult-dabbling secret society. Their leaders disclose Blackwood was an ex- associate, and plead for Holmes to assist hinder him. Holmes denies their kind proposal of reward but continues to investigate. As Holmes and Watson inspect, the two senior members are assasinated through clear paranormal means by Blackwood, and he assumes control of the order, desiring to use the Order’s power to push for England to retake the United States after their civil war has weakened their defenses. Blackwood orders the house Secretary, a member of the Order, to issue a warrant for Holmes’ capture.
Holmes and Watson go behind hints to an industrial slaughterhouse, where they are taunted by Blackwood and forced to rescue Adler from a deadly conveyor belt trap. Watson chases after Blackwood but is caught by a tripwire, setting off a blast; Watson is capable to caution Holmes and Alder to safety but is badly wounded himself in the explosion. Holmes realizes he is hunted by the cop and goes into hiding, and reflects on the clues he has collected. He comes to realize that Blackwood is attempting to cast a spell based on the sphinx, with the three assasinated tied to three of the mythical creature’s animal constituents: man, ox, and eagle. Holmes deduces the fourth, the lion, is symbolized by the English Parliament. Holmes allows Lestrade to capture and bring him to the home Secretary. Overconfident, the Secretary reveals Blackwood’s plan for wiping out all the Lords but save those devoted supporters of his. Holmes escapes, diving into the river Thames, and is saved by a waiting boat with Watson and Adler in it.
Regrouping with Watson and Adler, Holmes takes them to the sewers below Parliament where they find a apparatus devised by the midget that is operated by a remote trigger held by Blackwood that will release a cyanide derivative into the Parliament chambers. The three fight off Blackwood’s men and extricate the cyanide cylinders from the apparatus. Adler grabs the cylinders and races away, followed by Holmes; Blackwood becomes aware his machine has failed and shortly follows thereafter. The three pull in at the top of the Tower Bridge, still under construction. Blackwood knocks Adler to a lower platform, where she falls unconscious. Holmes tricks Blackwood into becoming entangled in the ropes and chains, and Blackwood is soon hanging insecurely from these over the Thames while Holmes recounts that all of Blackwood’s “mystical” acts were applications of science and trickery. Holmes intends for Blackwood to stand trial but, tangled in ropes, Blackwood falls and is hanged by the chains. Holmes helps Adler get well, though handcuffs her. She explains that the mystifying caped man in the carriage is one Professor Moriarty. Holmes drops the key to the handcuffs in Adler’s bosom and leaves her, returning to Watson. The cop pull in to inform a dead officer found near Blackwood’s machine, and Holmes deduces that chasing Adler and fighting Blackwood was a distraction by Moriarty, who used the distraction to take a key component of Blackwood’s remote control device from the {machine|apparatus.
The film was released in the United States on December 25, 2009, and on December 26, 2009, in the UK, Ireland, and the Pacific. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 68% of 183 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.1 out of 10. The film opened to an estimated $65,380,000 in its first weekend, placing in second at the US box office to Avatar, which grossed $75 million.
