the film in and of itself is not too bad, aside from the ridiculous and at times downright vulgar cinematography - the acting is for the most part competent, and the dialogue is funny. it is undeniably a film many people will - and have - enjoyed my mistake was watching this after already being a fan of the television series starring jeremy brett. oh, and also being a fan of the books. as i say the film is not too bad, i am just annoyed to the point of offense that a whole generation, if not the entire world, will be mislead into perceiving this as the definitive sherlock holmes. its not. its a very very loose interpretation of sherlock holmes held together by a few misused quotes, as performed by captain jack sparrow (there's nothing wrong with that, i liked the first pirates of the Caribbean, and its not meant as some sort of a jibe - but after about 30 minutes it suddenly struck me - EVERY mannerism is copied point for point off of captain jack sparrow.) and there is nothing wrong with 'loose interpretations' either - i have liked many. but the dialogue and story writing are just TERRIBLE in comparison to the original works, and ignoring them in favour of THIS script is just wrong. i mean the plot is truly awful, and not just from a 'this is not how the book is' kind of way. its just plain bad. i guess the thing im most annoyed about is how despite being English himself, guy ritchie has managed to take every subtlety and all propriety that was brilliant about sherlock holmes and replace it with crude Hollywood clichés and americanisms.

i just urge anyone who reads this, even if you still decide to watch the film, to at least download/rent the "adventures of sherlock holmes" starring jeremy brett afterwards, and see how much better it is. i really honestly don't mean to be a buzz kill, these films do have their place, but if you want a Hollywood blockbuster then go see the terminator or die hard or something. if you want to watch sherlock holmes, then this is not it. its like james bond starring tom cruise with an austin powers accent, im sure it could be done, and im sure it would get a (shocking) 7.8 star rating on IMDb, but for the love of god, it really shouldn't.