10 Best Characters In Guy Ritchie Movies

In Guy Ritchie's take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective, the director decided to play up the character's bizarre eccentricities, as well as his bohemian lifestyle and proficiency with hand to hand combat. In this 2009 outing, Sherlock Holmes, accompanied by Dr. Watson (Jude Law) is tasked by a mysterious secret society with preventing Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) from assassinating various figures of political importance in order to gain power for himself. The problem lies in the fact that Lord Blackwood was executed for previous crimes months before, giving his threats of supernatural vengeance some credence.

Unlike previous incarnations of the character, Holmes is shown to have very little consideration for politesse, and is often brutally honest with everyone he meets when voicing his own opinions. As expected, this does not impact his abilities as a detective, and in traditional fashion he is able to make brilliant deductions from even the most innocuous of observations.

Robert Downey Jr.'s interpretation of the character has become one of the most memorable portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, earning him a place alongside names such as Basil Rathbone and Benedict Cumberbatch as one of the most noteworthy actors to don the deerstalker.

This version of Holmes is perhaps one of the most proficient when it comes to fistfights too, a trait that was present in the original books, but was very rarely explored. The scene where Sherlock partakes in a round of bareknuckle boxing is not only fun to watch because of the stellar choreography, but because of the way Ritchie explores Holmes' thought process so intimately.