Film Review : Sherlock Holmes

The resurrection of Robert Downey Jr's career over the last 10 years has been both to his personal benefit and also to ours as his presence is usually guaranteed to light up the films that he appears in.

Not so much of a resurrection but still needing some assistance was the career of Guy Ritchie after the mess that was Revolver which had followed on from the abysmal Swept Away (which was less of a title and more of a prediction). The stylish RocknRolla went some way to restoring some credibility but there was the creeping suspicion that he was only able to work in a limited genre.

The combination of both of these talents for a version of the much loved Sherlock Holmes certainly enticed but that was not without some concerns. Could Downey handle the extremely English Holmes? And would this simply serve to prove Ritchie's limitation?

The good news is that not only can Downey make an excellent Holmes, but that Ritchie has also directed a grand updating of Holmes for the 21st century and which has all the hallmarks of another successful franchise.

In addition, Jude Law is excellent as Watson played as equally formidable to Holmes rather than the lapdog version of the character as etched into legend by Nigel Bruce. The chemistry between the two actors helps propel the story along.

Also appearing is the delightful Rachel McAdam who is rather underused as an apparent previous but errant love-interest of Holmes, although it is her part in the story which leads to the clearest indication of a further celluloid adventure.

The bad guy is played by the excellent Mark Strong who is apparently resurrected after being hung in prison.

The uniformly strong cast do help to compensate for what turns out to be a reasonably predictable script but this is accompanied by terrific action scenes along the way which leave you thirsting for more from Ritchie and his ensemble.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to seeing Downey reprise his role as millionaire superhero Tony Stark in Iron Man II