Sherlock Holmes [Guest Writer] (5 Stars)

Okay so I think we all know the concept of sherlock holmes but you may not know this particular story. In London, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downy Jr.) and his partner Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) captures the follower of black magic and serial killer Lord Blackwood that has already killed five women when he is about to kill his sixth victim. Blackwood is sentenced to be hung and Dr. Watson attests to his death. However, Blackwood mysteriously returns from the afterlife and Inspector Lestrade summons Sherlock to help the Scotland Yard in the investigation. Meanwhile Dr. Watson intends to get married and leave the team while Sherlock is visited by his former lover Irene Adler that has a secret agenda of her own.

I enjoyed this film for many reasons but the biggest reason was the portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. I've never read the books but I've seen countless adaptions of these two characters and the one that most sticks in my head is the one of a skinny professor-like-stick-in-the-mud quoting, "Elementary my dear Watson." and a pudgy-overfed Watson tagging along on his coat-tails. Now I understand that this is cliched but it's gotten to the point that if you ask anyone about Sherlock Holmes this is the imagery that first pops into their minds but Guy Ritchie (the director) gave him a stunning and exciting new image that is both modern, realistic, manly with a touch of comedy.

Robert played this role well and the only other movies that I really can remember loving him in was Only You (probably memorable because it was one of the very few romance movies that I actually stayed awake through and enjoyed) and Iron Man (not including Sherlock). I've seen him play a lot of other roles in plenty of movies and I enjoyed them but I guess those are the roles that stuck with me the most next to this latest one. I loved Jude Law (I love Jude Law period) in this film and thought he really brought a flair to Watson that was long overdue. The whole film was a great modern adaption of a classic that I think was well done. In this new era of remakes over remakes this was one of the few that did it well - giving a nod to the past while pulling it into the future without it looking...boring.

I also enjoyed the storyline and it kept me laughing, on the edge of my seat during action scenes, and excited to see what would come next throughout the entire film. I saw this 3 times in theaters and then bought the DVD and have since watched it a total of probably 11 times so you can see that I am a fan of this flick. My brother had much more insight to this movie than I did, probably because he was remembering the "history" of Holmes but since I didn't ask too much about it (I honestly didn't care) I can't really say. Maybe if you know the history you can enlighten me about it since my brother's explanation would only serve to confuse the hell out of me.

Any-who, this is a really great movie with a good, solid storyline behind it and quality actors that play their roles extremely well while bringing something new to the table and doing the story and characters justice.