Sherlock Holmes
Dir: Guy Ritchie
2009
***
Anyone who has read A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four will know that Sherlock Holmes wasn't the polished character he's since been portrayed as and there is nothing to say he wore a Deerstalker. Many were probably surprised to see him as a bare-knuckle Boxer in the film, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did indeed say he was so in his early works but in the film I don't see his words come to life, I see Guy Ritchie's grubby little mitts. Cross Snatch with an older episode of Scooby Doo, throw in bad accents and questionable special effects and you get  Guy Richies's  Sherlock Holmes. I thought Robert Downey Jr. was an odd but actually quite brilliant Holmes and I thought Jude Law was the perfect choice as Watson, the two actors being the only real reason the film works and is enjoyable. The House's of Parliament and the Tower of London are further than 5 minutes away from each other, this, and many more annoying errors just show you how much of a Londoner Richie really is. I loved the performances but hated the direction, good but swap Richie for almost anyone else and it would have been great.