Sherlock Holmes
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Guy Ritchie
Written by	Michael Robert Johnson Anthony Peckham Simon Kinberg (Screenplay) Lionel Wigram (Story) Arthur Conan Doyle (Characters)
Produced by	Joel Silver Lionel Wigram Susan Downey Dan Lin
Starring	Robert Downey, Jr. Jude Law Rachel McAdams Mark Strong Eddie Marsan Kelly Reilly William Hope
Cinematography	Philippe Rousselot
Edited by	James Herbert
Music by	Hans Zimmer [1]
Production company	Silver Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures
Release dates	December 25, 2009 (2009-12-25) (United States) December 26, 2009 (2009-12-26) (United Kingdom)
Running time	134 minutes
Countries	United States United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$80 million [2]
Box office	$91,380,000 [3]

Sherlock Holmes is a 2009 film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional character of the same name. The film was directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin. The screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg is based on Lionel Wigram's story and Doyle's characters. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law respectively portray Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

The film was released in the United States on December 25, 2009 and on December 26, 2009 in the UK and the Pacific. ^[4]

The film, set in London of 1891 AD, opens with Holmes ( Robert Downey, Jr.) and Watson ( Jude Law) racing to prevent a human sacrifice ritual conducted by Lord Blackwood ( Mark Strong). Holmes and Watson stop the sacrifice just in time and neutralize Lord Blackwood, after which the police, led by Inspector Lestrade ( Eddie Marsan), arrive and arrest him. Blackwood's hanging occurs three months later, during which Holmes has become bored without a new case. Watson prepares to leave 221b Baker Street to establish his own business, and he intends to marry Mary Morstan ( Kelly Reilly). Blackwood requests Holmes' presence on the day of his execution. Holmes finds that Blackwood has seemingly mystic powers, causing one guard to be struck with a seizure and scaring the other guards and prisoners, while having written numerous occult symbols on his prison cell. Blackwood promises to Holmes that there will be three more deaths after his execution that will change the very nature of their world and that there is nothing Holmes can do about it. Blackwood is executed by hanging, declared dead by Watson himself.

Holmes is re-acquainted with Irene Adler ( Rachel McAdams), the only person who has managed to outwit him. She offers him a sum of money to pursue a case of a missing red-haired midget by the name of Reardon. Holmes disguises himself as a vagrant and trails Adler to a coach, within which sits a man whose face is not seen but who has a wrist mounted pistol which he uses to threaten the disguised Holmes. Three days after Blackwood's execution, his tomb is found shattered, from the inside out. A witness reports Blackwood leaving the tomb. The police open Blackwood's coffin and find the corpse of the man Adler had asked Holmes to find inside. Holmes and Watson discover a pocketwatch on the body and trace it to the midget's home, where they discover a workshop containing various chemical experiments. They escape from two arsonists and a French giant who were sent to destroy the evidence but end up being imprisoned for the unintentional property damage. Watson is soon bailed out by Ms. Morstan. Holmes is later bailed out and brought before the Temple of the Four Orders, an occult-dabbling secret society, who reveal that Blackwood was once part of their order. They ask Holmes to stop Blackwood, Holmes declines the case. While Holmes and Watson investigate, Blackwood kills the two senior members of the Order, takes control of its remaining members, and gives orders for Holmes' arrest.

From traces on the corpse of the attempted arsonist, they find their way to a factory slaughterhouse, including a bigger workshop. Blackwood taunts them and escapes but Holmes and Waston must rescue Adler who has been trapped and hung on the conveyor belt about to be roasted and sliced like a pig. Holmes and Watson make a daring rescue. Watson chases after Blackwood but is caught by a tripwire and sets off a massive explosion. Watson alerts Holmes, saving him and Adler, but is caught in the explosion and is badly injured. Holmes, escaping from the law, uses clues found from the murders of the Order members to discover that Blackwood's murders are tied to the constituent elements of the sphinx, and that his last target is the English Parliament, the symbol of the lion. Holmes allows himself to be captured and taken by Lestrade, who he has convinced to act the part of a villain, to the Home Secretary. The Home Secretary inadvertently gives Holmes the clues he needs to reveal Blackwood's plans for the attack on the British parliament. Holmes escapes, diving in to the river Thames, rescued by a waiting boat.

Holmes, Watson, and Adler sneak into a tunnel below Parliament and find a machine, based on the experiments of the red-haired midget, set to release a cyanide derivative into the Parliament chambers triggered by a primitive radio signal, killing all the Lords except those Blackwood had secretly given the antidote. Fighting off Blackwood's men, the three manage to dislodge cylinders containing the cyanide chemical; Adler takes the cylinders and races up the the Parliament building's stairs to the top of the unfinished Westminster Bridge (Tower Bridge could not have been the correct reference. The three actors emerge from Parliament to the bridge; Tower bridge is ~3 miles away) followed by Holmes and Blackwood, aware his mechanism has failed. Blackwood eventually knocks Adler off onto a lower platform, but Holmes tricks Blackwood into becoming entangled in the ropes and chains; Holmes explains all of Blackwood's seemingly mystic powers as simple application of science. Holmes intends for Blackwood to stand trial but, tangled in ropes, Blackwood falls and is hanged by the chains. Holmes handcuffs Ms. Adler and insists she explain her motives in becoming involved with the case. She explains that the mysterious caped man in the carriage is one Professor Moriarty, who had used the battle to covertly steal an important remote control component of the machine. Adler warns Holmes that Moriarty "is just as brilliant as he is, and infinitely more devious." Holmes leaves Adler, and returns to explain to Watson how Blackwood managed to fake his death. The film ends with Holmes learning of a new case involving Professor Moriarty.

• Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes. Downey was visiting Joel Silver's offices with his wife, producer Susan Downey, when he learned about the project. ^[5] 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. ^[6] Ritchie decided to take a chance on casting him in the role, and Downey told the BBC that "I think me and Guy are well-suited to working together. The more I look into the books, the more fantastic it becomes. Holmes is such a weirdo." ^[7] Downey also revealed what his wife had to say: "that when you read the description of the guy — quirky and kind of nuts — it could be a description of me." ^[8] Downey intends to focus more on Holmes's patriotic side and his bohemianism, and felt that his work on Chaplin has prepared him for an English accent. ^[9] Ritchie feels his accent is "flawless". ^[10] 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. ^[11] Downey lost weight for the part, because during a chat he had with Chris Martin, Martin recommended that Holmes look "gaunt" and "skinny". ^[12]
• Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, Holmes's ally, a surgeon and a war veteran. Law is not portraying the bumbling fool that actor Nigel Bruce popularized in the 1930s–40s films. ^[13] 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. ^[14] Law made a notebook of phrases from the stories to improvise into his dialogue. ^[15] Ritchie originally envisioned Russell Crowe in the role. ^[16]
• Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, a femme fatale from New Jersey who outwitted Holmes twice, earning his grudging respect. ^[13] In the film, Adler is no longer married to Godfrey Norton and needs Holmes' help for the case. ^[14] Downey convinced Ritchie to cast McAdams, arguing she would not look too young to be his love interest. ^[17]
• Mark Strong as Lord Henry Blackwood, the main antagonist with ambitions to take over the world. ^[18]
• Kelly Reilly as Mary Morstan. Watson wishes to settle down with her, causing a conflict with Holmes. ^[8]
• Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade. ^[19]
• Ed Tolputt as Professor Moriarty, Adler's employer, seen only as a figure in shadows.
• Hans Matheson as Lord Coward, Home Secretary

Producer Lionel Wigram remarked that for around ten years, he had been thinking of new ways to depict Sherlock Holmes. "I realized the images I was seeing in my head [when reading the stories] were different to the images I'd seen in previous films." He imagined "a much more modern, more bohemian character, who dresses more like an artist or a poet", namely Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. After leaving his position as executive for Warner Bros. in 2006, ^[6] 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. ^[8] Lord Blackwood is based on Aleister Crowley (although, the name could be a portmanteau inspired by fantasy novelist Lord Dunsany and horror novelist Algernon Blackwood^{[ citation needed]}), which was due to Doyle's own fascination with the occult.^{[ citation needed] [20]} The producer felt he was "almost clever" pitting Holmes, who 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. ^[20] Professor Moriarty's existence is hinted in the script to set up the sequels. ^[18]

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, ^[21] but Guy Ritchie signed on to direct in June 2008. ^[22] When a child at boarding school, Ritchie and other pupils listened to the Holmes stories through dormitory loudspeakers. "Holmes used to talk me to sleep every night when I was seven years old," he said. ^[23] Therefore, his image of Holmes differed from the films. He wanted to make his film more "authentic" to Doyle, ^[9] explaining, "There's quite a lot of intense action sequences in the stories, [and] sometimes that hasn't been reflected in the movies." ^[24] Holmes' "brilliance will percolate into the action", and the film will show that his "intellect was as much of a curse as it was a blessing". ^[10] 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". ^[24]

Filming began in October 2008. ^[25] The crew shot at Freemasons' Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. ^[18] Filming was done in Manchester's Northern Quarter, while the Town Hall was used for a fight scene (which required smashing stained glass windows). ^[26] They shot the opening scene for three days at St Bartholomew-the-Great church in London, ^[20] and shot on the river Thames at Wapping for a scene involving a steamboat on 7 November. ^[27] Filming continued at Stanley Dock and Clarence Dock in Liverpool. ^[28] 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. ^[29]

In late November 2008, stunt man Robert Maillet 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. ^[30] The Sun reported that on November 28, a tank truck caught fire, forcing filming to stop for two hours. ^[31] 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. ^[32] In January 2009, filming moved to Brooklyn. ^[33]

Ritchie wanted his Holmes' costume to play against the popular image of the character, joking "there is only one person in history who ever wore [a deerstalker]". 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. ^[16]

Director Guy Ritchie used the soundtrack from the film The Dark Knight by 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. ^[34] For the musical accompaniment, composer Hans Zimmer used a banjo, 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." ^{[35] [34]}

Tracklist ^[36]

1. Discombobulate (2:25)
2. Is It Poison, Nanny? (2:53)
3. I Never Woke Up In Handcuffs Before (1:44)
4. My Mind Rebels At Stagnation (4:31)
5. Data, Data, Data (2:15)
6. He's Killed The Dog Again (3:15)
7. Marital Sabotage (3:44)
8. Not In Blood, But In Bond (2:13)
9. Ah, Putrefaction (1:50)
10. Panic, Sheer Bloody Panic (2:38)
11. Psychological Recovery... 6 Months (18:18)
12. Catatonictes (6:44)

Not included in the soundtrack is a recording of the Irish folk song The Rocky Road to Dublin as performed by The Dubliners. Though this piece was used both during the movie and its end credits, it was not composed by Hans Zimmer.

The single Unstoppable by E.S. Posthumus was used in the trailers for the film.

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).

The film has received generally positive reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 70% of 159 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.3 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Guy Ritchie's directorial style might not be quite the best fit for an update on the legendary detective, but Sherlock Holmes benefits from the elementary appeal of a strong performance by Robert Downey, Jr." ^[37] Among the site's notable critics, 52% gave the film a positive write-up, based on a sample of 33. ^[38] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 57 based on 34 reviews. ^[39]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars saying "Guy Ritchie's film is filled with sensational sights, over-the-top characters and a desperate struggle atop Tower Bridge, which is still under construction. It's likely to be enjoyed by today's action fans. But block bookings are not likely from the Baker Street Irregulars." ^[40]

A. O. Scott of the New York Times was more reserved, saying "intelligence has never ranked high among either Mr. Ritchie’s interests or his attributes as a filmmaker. His primary desire ... has always been to be cool: to make cool movies about cool guys with cool stuff. Yes, 'Sherlock Holmes' is kind of cool. But that’s not really a compliment.... There are worse things than loutish, laddish cool, and as a series of poses and stunts, 'Sherlock Holmes' is intermittently diverting." ^[41]

EInsiders assigned the movie 2 stars out of 4. EI film critic Jonathan Hickman writes: "Ritchie's vision here (the product of 5 screenwriters) is alien to anything written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and may have the unintended effect of pushing viewers back to the books." ^[42]

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. The film earned a strong per-theater average of $18,031 from its 3,626 theaters. Its one-day Christmas sales broke records. ^{[43] [44]}

On December 15, 2009, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the nominees for the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards with Robert Downey, Jr. nominated for the category Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for the portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. ^[45] In addition, the Broadcast Film Critics Association nominated Hans Zimmer for Best Score. ^[46].

• Official website
• Sherlock Holmes at IMDb
• Sherlock Holmes at AllMovie
• Sherlock Holmes at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sherlock Holmes at Metacritic
• Sherlock Holmes at Box Office Mojo