Stanley Blake
Staff Writer

“Bromance” is alive and well in Guy Ritchie’s rather popular adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective, Sherlock Holmes. Ritchie had his hands full trying to blend 19th -century characters with modern- day actors. Robert Downey Jr. played an astounding role as Sherlock Holmes and reliable sidekick, Dr. Watson, who is played by Jude Law.

Holmes and Watson could strongly be considered a pair of bromantic -type characters. In the past the high-octane violence might not have been a staple of the genre, but these two were really close. A mix of humor and affection always existed between them and only few times throughout the movie they quarreled and the audience questioned that “bromantic” bond they shared.

Holmes, throughout the course of the movie, used a method known as “Sherlockian Deduction” to solve many of the dilemmas he faced. In one instance he, with a series of well-executed moves, subdued a brute combatant as part of a daring attempt to prevent the nefarious Lord Blackwood, a classy and dangerously engaging villain, from sacrificing a hapless victim while on the way to securing hellish domination over the earth. Thwarting the plan was an anticipated ruse in Blackwood’s even grander scheme to instill fear in the hearts of London’s citizens and claim the independent American states.

The entire plot takes a backseat to the personal dynamics between Holmes and his heart. Caught in a bit of a pickle involving a former criminal-minded lover, Irene Adler, who has returned to scheme him, and Watson, who is on the verge of engagement to Mary Morstan, a smart, witty governess with a sound understanding of the relationship between the two men. The movie ended with a twist, Blackwood being tangled in chains falling to a death below. As always, Holmes unwinds his “method to madness” and a new proclaimed case is opened, thus foreshadowing a Sherlock Holmes 2.