A fresh slant on a classic character

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2009)

For those more familiar with the deerstalker hat and cape which is how Holmes was depicted pictorially only, this version of Sherlock Holmes may come as a surprise. Ritchie draws out some of Holmes' lesser known traits here such as his bohemian nature; often high, slightly bedraggled and manic depressive off the job, and sometimes on it. These are accurate character traits, and the Holmes in need of some TLC comes straight out of Conan Doyle's stories.
So while Downey Jr doesn't look like the typical Holmes image and Sidney Paget's drawings of the character, his look stubble aside is more in keeping with Doyles writings and I did find him an interesting Holmes (though if it'd been me I'd have wanted Paul Bettany for the part). Downey Jr and Law obviously click well off screen and this shows in their performances. They have an excellent and witty rapport and I look forward to future instalments with these two
Judging from the trailers I was expecting this film to be Sherlock Holmes the comedy. Having read all of the Holmes stories several times over, I was slightly disappointed at this prospect, but luckily this is more a darkly humorous action movie - the trailers actually just show the most obviously funny moments back to back. Overall Ritchie goes for a reasonably serious if slightly shallow and super hero styled update to the character
We're dipped straight into the life of Holmes and Watson, in keeping with the original stories, and there are no boring introductions or origins filler to sit through. the plot is otherwise quite unlike any of Conan Doyles original stories though, more like a comic book, and I think this is the films weakest link. There's certainly lots of murder and mystery on offer but the story lacks the finesse of Doyles writings
In terms of the films component parts I loved the score which was constantly interesting. The visuals are stunning with London looking suitably smoky and mysterious.
The film includes some great action set pieces and I think audiences young and old will be satisfied with this Sherlock Holmes. While I'm most definitely not a fan of Guy Ritchie's past endeavours, I think he has made a creative resurgence here after dumping some old baggage