CHAPTER 1
to a busy marketplace. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is smoking a pipe, disguised as a Chinese opium merchant. He is keeping an eye on Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), who is making her way through the marketplace.
She bumps into a gentleman, quickly exchanging an envelope for a package.
Holmes sidles up beside Irene and switches the package for a loaf of bread. He warns her that she is being followed by three sketchy-looking men, and wants to know what she is up to. Irene agrees to meet Holmes for dinner to discuss, and pulls Holmes into a nearby alleyway, ostensibly to escape the men.
They are immediately confronted by a thug at the end of the alley, and the other three thugs surround them. Irene says,
"It was four men actually, and they are escorting me, not following me."
She takes her package back from Holmes and tells the men to go easy on his face, as they have a dinner date.
The men attack Holmes, but using his powers of observation and prediction, he is able to anticipate their moves and disarm them easily.
He continues his pursuit of Irene, who is headed to a nearby art auction.
