Presenting.......Sherlock Holmes by Guy Ritchie

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2010)

Sherlock Holmes is one fictional character which has been regularly portrayed on the wide screen . And though the current version may not rank among my favourites it is not by any means ordinary. Holmes has been given a new and refreshing look by the director . In fact all those who are acquainted with the novels would concur that what Ritchie has done is too simply bring to light the till now downplayed aspects of Holmes personality viz..his remarkable combat skills and other such muscular attributes.Almost everybody has this image of Holmes being a lean fellow with a magnifying glass in one hand and a smoking pipe in another. Ritchie has tries to expose the strength behind the lean body structure and does not shy away from including scenes where Holmes fighting skills are the sole object of attention.
Moving forward , it was nice to see Jude Law as Dr. Watson.
The screenplay is for me the most interesting part of this feature. For some the whole tone of the movie was divorced from the essence of Holmes. A bit too loud too violent too exuberant and fanciful some said. Many were expecting the movie to be an emulator of the TV series produced in the preceding decades. For me the movie was a welcome aberration and deviation from the type cast image of Holmes . OK, I agree that the director failed to study Holmes as far as some aspects were concerned and that some sequences bore a striking resemblance with the action flicks of today, but what is wrong in that? I believe a movie should represent the best of it's age and not be a second rate reproduction of the by-gone era.
It is true that the movie's brilliance sunk in as time progressed and almost a week after I had watched it did I fully understand the nature of Ritchie's accomplishment.
For the tight script, good performances and the unique Colour given to Holmes and his train by the director I rate it highly.