Sherlock Holmes (2009)

The Chicago Sun-Times has given it a 3 out of 4 stars rating and has described it as being a film with strong characters and strong visuals. Similarly, other critics have praised the film for its diversity and its refreshing adaptation and portrayal of one of the world's greatest literature icons.

Synopsis:

Sherlock Holmes recounts the newest expedition of the famous Detective Holmes (played by Robert Downey Jr.) in his quest to bring down Lord Blackwood—a man sentenced to death for the murder of five women, as well as, his practice of black magic. A few months after Blackwood is hanged, the public goes into a state of panic believing that he has been resurrected. Sherlock is called upon once again to find Lord Blackwood and stop him before any other murders occur.

Let’s talk cinematography:

Judging by the costume and buildings, the movie is set in the early-mid 19^th century London. The film makes use of both interior and exterior shots, (note though, that there are more interior ones).

Sample 1: Exterior shot (Medium shot size; cross between eye-level and low shot angle; utilizes ambient lighting, that is: the sunlight which is directly over head. Hence time of day can be deduced to be late morning or afternoon).

Sample 2: Interior shot (medium wide shot size; eye level angle; warm temperature)

The movie predominantly uses close-up and medium shot sizes. This may have been so given mystery/detective genre of the film. These shot sizes often help to emphasize Holmes’ ability to extract information from things seemingly insignificant. So most of the times we see these shots being manipulated to highlight something noteworthy or to give attention to “small” details. For example, there is a scene that utilizes close-up shot size to zoom in on a smear of chalk found on a character's jacket. At first one might be puzzled at the reason for the close-up, but Holmes detective skills is subsequently shown when he identifies the character as being a professor.

The shot angles used in the film vary, but what is of key note is the cinematographer’s predominant use of eye level shot angle. As can be seen, this angle has certainly added to the “creepy” nature of the villain’s (Blackwood’s) character in many scenes.

Sample 3: Sherlock visits villain Blackwood in jail (medium shot size; interior shot; warm temperature)

Now the choice of lightening used for the movie was quite interesting. Most of the scenes utilized low key lights. As a matter of fact, the entire movie itself contained scenes looking more on the “dark” side. You'll find that both interior, as well as, exterior shots utilize low lighting system. This may have been used to enhance the gloomy, black magic motif surrounding the entire film.

Sample 4: Black magic practice/death ritual

A special feature that we must talk about is the use of slow-motion for certain scenes. In various parts of the movies, slow-motion used to give detailed depictions of Holmes’ thoughts before he acts on them.

For example, we see slow-motion being used in the fight scenes, where Holmes thinks about his combat approach before actually engaging his opponents.

Sample 5: Fight scene (medium shot size; high key light; warm temperature)

All in all, Sherlock Holmes is an interesting and energetic film that really engages both the sight and the mind. Additionally, credit must be given to French cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, who was the director of cinematography for this master piece.