JUST got back from seeing it… AWESOME.

First, some background. I was introduced to the intricacies of Sherlock Holmes, the different manners he implores within the stories to deduce his cases, and interesting mannerisms of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his writings by my college freshman English teacher (Dr. Gary Wilson, if any of you ever go to the University of Penn, St. Joseph’s University or Gwynedd Mercy College, I beg you to take one of his classes, the man is a truly gifted scholar and person). From there, I became enthralled with the personhood of Mr. Holmes, IE, who he theoretically is, what he does, his beliefs, why the character was created and what actually makes the character who and what he is, beyond the obvious. I’ve read many of the stories, in fact more then half, but not all (yet). I am by no means a Sherlockian, but I would say that if I were to pick a favorite fictional character or hero, it would have to be Sherlock Holmes.

That being said, I do not like most of the on screen adaptions of his adventures. Notable exceptions being the collective works that Jeremy Brett did, specifically the first 5 or so episodes (those being the most believable. Sadly, Jeremy Brett did not age well and gained a substantial amount of wait rather quickly, and it made his physical cast a hard one to believe, though he was always spot on in every other spectrum of acting the part). So when I first heard about the start of production for this movie I became both extremely excited and at the same time extremely weary. The first caution flag for me arose when I saw Guy Richtie was brought on as director. He is an action guy, and Holmes is far from an action hero. The second flag came when I heard there was going to be a new story featuring some characters (such as Irene Adler) from actual stories. Irene Adler is not really a re-occurring character and that REALLY troubled me.

Anyway, fast forward to tonight. The movie starts out sort of just how trailer starts, but elongated. It gives you a preview of how Holmes actually thinks when he is about to do something and it basically takes you in, and you never look back. The dialogue was spot on and I really did believe that Robert Downey Jr. was British. More over, I really believed he was Holmes. The kind of eccentric genius that he brought with him was incredibly perfect for the role and Jude Law (a man I probably would’ve actually picked for the part of Holmes) was a terrific Watson.

The most refreshing part of the movie however, is that it does not try to be a re-iteration of the books, nor does it try to completely take it’s own path. It is truly an interpretation, something that gives a different perspective on the written world of Sherlock Holmes while at the same time, trying not to heavily alter it. I was really, really pleased by this and I think it’s why I enjoyed the movie so much. It’s a movie that can live along side the stories and compliment them, not be part of them (well, not directly anyway) and not as a substitution.

Some points of interest:

• Watson is written in the movie as Doyle would have written him in the books. He is not a bumbling idiot like the Basil Rathbone silver screen Holmes stories of the 1940′s would lead you to believe, but in fact a very smart, capable doctor of medicine who shares a keen brotherhood with Holmes, though not the same keen ability or lust for deduction.
• Unlike the stories (not a negative, just an observation) the movie is not told from the perspective of Watson, which I actually like because it shows a nice separation from the books, again re-affirming the fact that the movie is to compliment the stories, not continue them nor to be looked upon as an equal.
• The ending of the movie is quite like how Doyle would end one of his stories, and it gave you that sense of satisfaction that you don’t always get when you come of from seeing a new movie
• *The cast for this movie is awesome and it is just another factor in why I liked it so much. It’s not an “all world” group, but rather a collection of very believable, very skilled actors and actresses who know how to really make every moment of the movie count.

In closing, I honestly give it a 5/5, and that’s from a person who really was expecting to be disappointed and rarely gives 5′s.

I hope you all get a chance to see it because in my opinion, there hasn’t been a better movie made in 2009.