SHERLOCK HOLMES. Warner Brothers, 2009. Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes), Jude Law (Dr. John Watson), Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler), Mark Strong (Lord Blackwood), Eddie Marsan (Inspector Lestrade), Robert Maillet (Dredger), Geraldine James (Mrs. Hudson), Kelly Reilly (Mary Morstan). Based on the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle. Director: Guy Ritchie.

   I go to the cinema very rarely as my tastes don’t really run to explosions and the special effects that all crime films seem to have nowadays, but, as a Sherlock Holmes aficionado, this is one I couldn’t miss.

   There has been a lot of discussion before this film was released about the suitability of, especially, Robert Downey Jr as Holmes, Guy Ritchie as director, and the depiction of Holmes as a scruffy waster who indulges in fistfights. Reviews here were mixed but I went with what I hoped was an open mind and I can now reveal that I thoroughly enjoyed the film in almost all respects.

   Sure Downey’s Holmes is out of sync with most other interpretations but it can be argued that most of them are at least as far from Doyle’s original as his is. He is physical, involved in fist fights both during the investigation and for pleasure, but then Holmes we are told by Watson “was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen” (“The Yellow Face”) though also that “he looked upon aimless bodily exercise as a waste of energy” (sic).

   However in The Sign of Four Holmes comes across McMurdo and introduces himself as “the amateur who fought three rounds with you… four years back,” so he did fight for reasons other that practicality.

   There are other nods towards the Doyle canon, for example when Holmes and Watson join in deductions from a watch that echo those made by Holmes about Watson’s brother’s watch (also in The Sign of Four), an event that will have occurred shortly before those of this film.

   There is also at least one nod towards the Basil Rathbone films as Downey twangs the violin at a jar of flies to control their flight patterns as Rathbone had done in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

   The humour, too, was very good, especially in the repartee between Holmes and Watson and both Downey as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson were excellent.

   The plot was a little outlandish with lots of large scales fights and special effects (as to be expected in a modem day film) and the scale of the villain’s ambitions (world domination) was rather extreme.

   Sets, especially those showing London landmarks were well done, but I was unable to understand that when Holmes was pursuing Irene Adler through cellars at the Houses of Parliament they should end up not only on the then under-construction Tower Bridge but on the upper level of it.

   Still, over all this was an enjoyable romp and I hope that the hinted at sequel with Professor Moriarty comes about.