Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes is closer to the real Holmes than many realise. Over a century of misunderstanding has grown up around the original character of Holmes and turned him into an inert, robotic brain under a deerstalker cap. Ritchie cuts all this back to reveal much of the Holmes Conan Doyle created: a genuine contradiction of a man, part bohemian junkie adventurer; part genius of analytical and investigative man of science. He's a brawler and a cocaine user; he shoots VR into the walls of Baker Street with a pistol to honour the monarchy; he conducts vile and bizarre experiments; he meditates with his violin and tobacco from the Persian slipper. He takes bold and daring actions to make key observations which feed his deductions. These in turn bring him to unique and startling conclusions, which are always right.

Ritchie has established the real Holmes. But he's done some new things too. He has created a new dynamic the Watson/Holmes relationship. They flirt, fight and bicker. Downey and Law do it very well indeed. It is a 21st Century invention played back into the 19th Century characters and situations. On the whole, it works. There are a couple of anachronisms for the sharp-eyed film watcher to spot, but they detract nothing by their presence. I also thought the development of 'that woman' Irene Adler from one-adventure nobody to semi-nemesis was a great touch.

I was absolutely delighted with this bold reworking of a much-loved character in a new and exciting story which, like the best, is not fully explained until the final moments. I thoroughly recommend it with five stars.