Scientist crime fighter dispels superstitious nonsense on Christmas

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2009)

How fitting for an intelligent hero to emerge in theaters on Christmas to dispel silly superstition. Guy Ritchie did a great job portraying this master detective based on the actual Doyle stories and did not rely on the old Holmes movies. In other words, this movie was a good adaptation, not a remake ten times over. He made Holmes more than an armchair detective and focused on the crime fighter that Doyle intended.
I especially enjoyed the visuals, including London with its filthy unpaved roads and the flat at 221B as it probably should look with two bachelors living there, especially with one with an intensely curious mind.
I liked how the movie focused on Sherlock's ability to fit in with criminals as well as his ability to fight—both of which are hinted at many times in the fifty plus stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
I like too how Ritchie dispensed with the curved pipe and deerstalker hat, neither of which really is mentioned much in the stories. The violin was a big part of Holmes' stories, and I like how he strummed the instrument in the movie while thinking about his cases. Something a thinking person would do.
Finally, this was cast in an interesting way. The actor who played Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), and even Jude Law, have physical features more identifiable with Holmes and they may have thought they were going to play the role when hired for the film. Instead, Ritchie cast an unlikely actor, American Robert Downey, Jr. This worked because Downey comes across as a mind that it always busy. Downey might also relate to Holmes' drug addiction, which was not shown in this movie but is hinted at (sloppy apartment, disheveled appearance, experiment of drugs on dog, bored when not working, etc.)
The music in the movie was up-tempo and musical, suggesting a busy mind. The plot was a little bland and a lot like the plot of The DaVinci Code, but the feel was right for Holmes. One of my favorite aspects of the Holmes' stories was that there was always a mystical element thrown in. Doyle was a spiritualist and brought a certain otherworldly darkness to the mysteries, until Sherlock's keen brilliance illuminated all the swindles and schemes, just as he did in this movie.