Sherlock Holmes

Finally watched the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. It was wonderful and most things that I read about it were accurate in that it was more loyal to the original novels than many filmed portrayals have been over the last several decades. There was action for a change. And this did come up in a few of Conan Doyle's novels, too. The boxing was definitely there. However, I feel that there may have been too much action which could've taken away from more of getting inside Sherlock. A couple of points in the film everything stopped and we see Sherlock work out exactly how to take down his opponent in the fight he was currently involved in. I would have liked to see more of that with some more general detective work type scenes. It kind of felt like the film might have squandered that effort on the fight scenes where it may have been just as cool to see that technique in Holme's general investigations. I'm also a sucker for the scenes where Sherlock analyzes a person to prove he can do it. We had a good one at the dinner with Mary Morstan.

Irene Addler front and center to the story did take some of the mystery out of her character. But it did make for a neat team, the three of them. If I wasn't already familiar with the literature I feel I would have missed a lot going on there. Jude Law's John Watson was great. What was lacking, in my opinion, were some scenes of just the two of them enjoying each other's company. This film portrayed Watson as angry almost all of his screen time. The two are no longer roommates as the film opens and this says there are A LOT of adventures we missed between them. An interesting choice for setting the film. I love the 'origin' story of the pair from A Study in Scarlet telling when the two meet. Most stories after that show Watson's adoration for his dear friend Holmes. And the balance is Holmes lets Watson in. Confides in no one else. I didn't feel that in this film.

I'll be surprised if they don't continue the franchise. It would be very cool if they ended a trilogy with Reichenbach Falls and the whole bit. To see Ritchie's Moriarty and Mycroft.

As much as I liked it, I still like the new modernized version of Sherlock from BBC more. I feel it is still closer to the original novels than even this film. Or maybe as my brother would say- its because its from the BBC. Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes is a very fine film and is well deserved to sit on my shelf. I look forward to more Robert Downey Jr. Holmes films.