A modern, fast paced, quick witted and quite campy take on the Sherlock Holmes stories you’re probably tired of hearing. Robert Downey Jr. plays a meandering, neurotic Holmes on the verge of alcoholism, and manages to create quite a dynamic with his onscreen counterpart, Watson (Jude Law).

While some folks are writing this movie off, saying it’s a disgrace to see Holmes portrayed the way he is in director Guy Ritchie’s take on the tales – I went in expecting something more along the lines of a Guy Ritchie movie, and I wasn’t disappointed. While the story seemed a little thin, and some of the characters could have used a little more ‘colouring in’, the pacing and action make this movie very memorable. The typical Ritchie charm is there, with a number of comical fight scenes and double/triple crossings, and Downey is playing basically the same character he always does, just in a different century: there’s not much in this movie to dissapoint the masses, which is probably why it’s clocking fairly decent earnings at the box office, currently second only to James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ (which in fairness is now the 4th 2nd highest grossing film of all time – something that doesn’t bode well for any other movies released at around the same time).

This is a certainly a solid film and with a promised sequel following the same story arc, it’s all set to be the start of something quite special, especially for fans of Ritchie (which most definitely includes me). Well worth the price of admission.