Elementary My Dear Ritchie

Rating: 9/10 (1 February 2010)

The first thought I had when hearing about this film was one of disappointment that director Guy Ritchie had clearly pandered to the American box office audience and chosen an American to play Sherlock Holmes, the quintessential Victorian gent. However it must be said that RDJ does an excellent job at portraying the opium addicted waster genius of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books so over looked and avoided by other versions of the film.
There is an odd sort of chemistry between RDJ and Jude Law which makes this particular pairing of Holmes and Watson one you like and care about. Jude Law is not one of my favourite actors but he seems to get it just right as Watson and you sympathise with him the entire film. Whilst both characters are portrayed in a way that is totally unreal for the age in which the film is set, they are real as characters. Ritchie gives them the earthiness we've come to expect and throws a degree of London wide boy into the mix as Victorian London meets Lock Stock and two smokers. As a director he has clearly unshackled Jude Law from the chains of Nigel Davenports bumbling Watson and freed Downey from the pompousness of Basil Rathbone's Holmes.
The CGI is excellent and not over worked, Ritchie thankfully holding back from using too much CGI but instead there is a wonderful use of set & costume design which really adds an ambiance to the movie and carries you off to the age. Dialogue is rich and strong, the script and plot carries nicely and you feel yourself on a roller-coaster ride not wanting to get off.
Here comes the spoiler, of sorts, you are inevitable introduced to professor Moriarty, those of you familiar with the books would have guessed it all along so it's not really a spoiler as such, but Ritchie cleverly introduces you to him in a way which leaves the movie hanging and you walk out the theatre with the sense of an impending sequel or series of Holmes Movies to follow, and why not? This was a great film which I thoroughly enjoyed, I didn't want it to end and would urge people not to wait for the DVD but go to see it on the big screen.