Summary: An engaging story with quality acting. This movie is worth seeing, and it's a fun watch in the theater, but waiting for the DVD wouldn't hurt the experience.

First let's start with a disclaimer: If you are a die-hard Sherlock Holmes fan, don't expect this to mirror the book's character.

Without doing a complete analysis of each character, let's just make a couple observations. I'm a Robert Downey Jr. fan, and his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is pretty much what you would expect; he's witty, sarcastic and confident. They managed just the right amount of serious character quality with comic relief - he really works in this character. Jude Law as Dr. Watson was an interesting choice. He's a little too serious at times and almost feels out of place, but his banter with RDJ is believable and entertaining. Finally, Mark Strong as Lord Blackwood is a little creepy, a little devious and a fair "match" for Sherlock Holmes.

You'll immediately notice, and either love or hate, the flashback/forethought style that this movie employs. Without giving away any plot elements, consider an example where Sherlock Holmes is about to enter a fight - before he does the screen will jump to a play-by-play from his perspective of how he intends to win, then we see how it is actually carried out. Similarly, when he recounts how he solves a particular mystery we see a narrated flashback highlighting what we didn't see the first time. Some people don't like this style, but I happen to think it worked pretty well here and was not over done.

All in all, this is worth watching. It has a fast pace and some good dialog. Try to see this one in the theater if you can.

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