Posts: Movies and Television / Sherlock Holmes

Directed by: Guy Richie. Starring: Rober Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong.

As a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, having read all the stories and seen most of the movies, I was salivating at this chance for a new take.

The story is typical of a Holmes outing; Some seamingly supernatural event revolving around a conspiracy within a consipracy, set in motion by a criminal master-genius. Without going into details, there were some things that worked and some that did not. The chemistry between Downey as Holmes and Law as Dr. Watson works. In fact it probably carries the film. Mark Strong, an excellent character actor, is mis-directed/a little over the top in comparison to some of the other performances. Rachel McAdams was an excellent femme fatal and probably could have been used to beter end. The Guy Richie style action sequences are fun and well choreographed, but feel isolated and somewhat gratuitous with the rest of the film. They literally introduce people just to have a fight sequence. Some people are upset that Holmes now fights with marial arts, but if you've read the stories, they sometimes describe Holmes as usinjg asian fighting techniques. I guess word of mouth has been good because I saw it in the 2nd week of release and the theater was packed. Overall I enjoyed it. Worth a visit to the theater if you're not dying to see something else. Definately worth a rental later.
3 stars.

are movie reviews not working for you?

When I posted that at work, i was using IE8, and I didnt notice the drop box. I don't know if it wasnt there or I didnt notice it.

-C

not a huge holmesosexual - but i was pretty disappointed overall. i think since the dark knight came out holywood has been inspired to release a sleeker, darker, cooler every character ever created... well, i would've preferred hugh laurie as holmes and maybe more crime-solving - also, i like mysteries that give you a chance to figure things out or at least theorize what the solution may be - this movie kinda just revealed everything at the end. also, rachel mcadams needed to show her tits in this one.

dav:
well, i would've preferred hugh laurie as holmes

We were talking about that while we were watching the movie. I would most likely just keep thinking of him as House throughout the entire movie.

dav:
not a huge holmesosexual - but i was pretty disappointed overall. i think since the dark knight came out holywood has been inspired to release a sleeker, darker, cooler every character ever created... well, i would've preferred hugh laurie as holmes and maybe more crime-solving - also, i like mysteries that give you a chance to figure things out or at least theorize what the solution may be - this movie kinda just revealed everything at the end. also, rachel mcadams needed to show her tits in this one.

Totally, but I was kinda avoiding that in the review. A mystery that you have no chance of solving is pretty lackluster.

I was a little disappointed, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I just expected to be full of more awesome. I love Guy Ritchie's style sooo much, I just wish he would have kept to it. It just felt like it was there, and then BAM! everything went back to normal.

I'm just glad that Robert Downey Jr was finally out of a typical Robert Downey Jr role. Not that I don't love him just the way he is. They just always seem to be the same.

I'd like to know why you think Mark Strong is a good character-actor.