Full marks, Mr Downey Jr!

Rating: 10/10 (9 January 2010)

MAGNIFICENT.
This is a hugely enjoyable adaption of Sherlock Holmes. Adaptations depart from their originals in movies through necessity - movies don't work like prose so new elements have to be introduced and ineffective ones removed, simple as that. Adaptations should be assessed on their own merits. A good rule of thumb in a re-imagining of an old story is to see how people who don't know the original react and my friend who didn't know much about Holmes thought this film was excellent.
It's a funny movie! Most of the movie's driven by its humour and most of the humour comes from Holmes being wonderfully obnoxious.
Many complaints will be/have been made regarding the new Holmes/Watson dynamic - I think it's hilarious. What would be the point of just re-filming the Brett take? The whole point of doing the same stories/characters again is to find different things and see if they work. I say this version of Holmes works! In fact...
I'm really REALLY impressed with RDJ's and Guy Ritchie's take on Holmes - an OCD maniac with manipulative tendencies, impatient to the point of despair with what he must see as the slowness of those surrounding him, incapable of switching off his brain, never still. RDJ has made a Holmes that is frankly superhuman, not merely an elegant, witty and superbly disciplined intellectual, but some kind of freak that just can't stop analysing everything around him. It's actually more faithful to Conan Doyle's vision than a lot of people are going to give it credit for.
And I'm ANNOYED with people complaining about the extra weight placed on fisticuffs in this movie - Guy Ritchie goes entirely out of his way to include a scene wherein Holmes wins his fight hands down not with superior brawn but with superior *knowledge*. And then has the sense to balance this with that huge French guy later in the movie to show that even Holmes isn't indestructible. The physical violence isn't predictable in this movie, it matters and adds weight and power to the story. It simply isn't comparable to the silly Matrix-styleeee fight scenes that have plagued the movie industry of late! AND they had Irene Adler. And they mentioned Mycroft. AND a certain someone else "appeared" who was portrayed very cleverly, oh yes, and oh YES, Mr Ritchie, if THAT'S what he's going to be like, I WILL come to watch your sequel! There's just one quibble. RDJ's Holmes was a teeny bit too cool for Mark Strong's Blackwood to confront convincingly. But never mind. with luck, Guy Ritchie will ramp up the baddie a notch or two in the next instalment... wink, wink, Mr Ritchie...