Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes (Bilingual)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Great story, wonderful photography/scenes/clothing/settings.
Fast and witty conversations between characters. Had to watch it
a couple of times to catch all the slow/speedy sequences.
Well cast and totally a great film. Hoping for more, as that's how it
leaves you at the end.

Robert Downey is back with a venegence. It was a superb movie with lots of action and excellent characters. Jude law was good too but Downey really stole the show.

In addition to being a very entertaining film, Guy Ritchie's stylistic direction adds greatly to this interpretation of a literary classic, by visually demonstrating Holmes' thought process and rapid-fire analysis. The period setting comes alive on blu-ray, thanks to some gorgeous set design and wonderful CGI-enhanced backgrounds. As bonus materials go, the blu-ray contains a unique alternate viewing with the director intermittently hosting a split-screen presentation (the film on one side and various behind-the-scenes on the other), as well as various pic-in-pic commentary clips etc. (which are also available thru a separate menu), and character timelines. This is a very inventive presentation option (for those interested). Otherwise, Sherlock Holmes remains a very entertaining period film, which looks gorgeous on blu-ray.

Sherlock Holmes presents Conan Doyle's detective and his sidekick Dr. Watson as action heros! Actually, through the lense of Guy Ritchie they are typical Ritchie antiheroes which means they are tough guys who must roll with several punches. Loosely based on Arthur Conan Doyle's stories Sherlock Holmes is actually quite entertaining. As with many Sherlock Holmes movies our detective begins an investigation which uncovers a conspiricy involving powerful men. The plot reminded me of an almost forgotten late seventies Sherlock Holmes movie called Murder by Decree. Richtie makes Sherlock Holmes his own with his signatutre, a convulted plot, with many twists, betrayals and, of course, gunpowder blasts. Robert Downey Jr tries for a psychologically complex Holmes but his efforts are lost somewhere in the fast pace of the movie. Jude Law makes an intellegent Dr. Watson who has been given more to do than ask Holmes questions and determine the time of death. Also, as Conan Doyle's main femme fatale Irene Adler: Rachel McAdams sashays about nicely in her Victorian costumes. At first I found McAdam's American accent quite jarring as Irene Adler has usually been played by British actresses, but then, I remembered that Irene Adler was supposed to be an American adventuress from New Jersey. Nevertheless she injects a little too much contemporary feistiness in the role and it makes Adler a thief instead of a cast off royal mistress as she was in the stories. I liked the fact that Holmes and Watson are portrayed as vigourous young men which is actually true to the Conan Doyle stories. Also the Thames river of Victorian London has never been to my knowledge been portrayed as being quite so bleakly and accurately, industrial. You can almost smell the coal dust. The difficulty in presenting a story in Victorian times is simply that the era lacks the accelerated pace and technology of our own times and, so how does a filmmaker make the story exciting for today's audience used to CGI and 3D? Like the League of Extrodinary Gentlemen and The Wild West before it, this Victorian London is full of secret technology that is ahead of its time. This is actually a subgenre of science fiction referred to as "steampunk." Sherlock Holmes might be a little fantastic and strays away from what makes Conan Doyle's stories truly special. This is just quibbling. Somewhere in the dark narrow streets of London, Moriarty lurks and I think a franchise is afoot!

I have the books, I have the old radio shows and I have the great Jeremy Brett Holmes DVDs from the English series. Each of them is different and brings something to the 'Holmes' legend. I liked the film and I enjoyed Robert Downey's interpretation of this iconic character a lot.

I noticed a comment from one of the reviews that talked about how gritty London was portrayed, and I echo that observation. The London of this film is not some idealized version often portrayed in period pieces, but a dirty, crowded city filled with normal looking people in the midst of of the industrial age. I loved the look of the film both from the backgrounds and costumes to the way the film was shot, the colour palette of the film (backgrounds and costumes) and the lighting, which was strongly evocative of the Victorian era.

Robert Downey Jr. is a very talented actor, and his physicality in this film is icing on the cake. His take on this character easily stands with the many other portrayals, and as this franchise plays out I think we'll see some of the aspects of the characterization by Downey played out to greater effect. Jude Law was also very solid in this film, and in the context of a film that had a very fast pace and lots of action, i thought that he and Downey had very good on screen chemistry.

I was not able to see this in the theatre, but picked up the DVD based on the trailers and promotion around the film, and I enjoyed it a ton. The extra features were also very good and showed the viewer some of the behind the scenes aspects of the film's production. Grab it and enjoy a great adventure that hopefully will lead to a couple of sequels.

This movie is phenomenal! I saw it in theatres twice and cannot wait for the DVD release. Amazing acting and an engaging plot, what more could you want?

What a dumbed-down Hollywood movie full of cliches and cartoon fight scenes. Any depth or originality the filmmakers attempted to give to these characters is undermined throughout by cheesy humor. There is a resemblance to Holmes and Watson only in the broadest sense. I think they ripped off their action sequences and comedy from Daffy Duck as Doorlock Holmes. (Daffy achieved more authenticity to the source material than Guy Ritchie managed). Seriously, a damsel in distress tied to a conveyor belt? Why not a railroad track? Irene Adler in sexy lingerie, a Holmes who seems to have permanently misplaced his comb and razor, and there's a dog-fart joke, just on the off-chance than the movie might get too stuffy and Victorian, or might have lost the audience with the plot.

The sets are lovely. It's just too bad that the characters don't live up to them. I like Robert Downey Jr., but he is painfully miscast here. I'm fine with Holmes as a fighter, but not out crippling men for fun UFC style when he gets bored. In what universe would Watson ever dream of striking Holmes? Could we get a few more ominous ravens fluttering about for dramatic effect? There weren't quite enough.

Check out BBC's new series 'Sherlock' for a better, cleverer spin on an old classic. They seem to have a real grasp of Holmes the 'functioning sociopath' and Watson, his faithful chronicler and protector. If you're a fan, this is time much better spent.

This is not a movie you will hate - that implies that it has some creative content that irritated some of your own values. Rather Guy Ritchie has shown a true talent in creating a really really boring movie !

This is a movie of little scenes, evidently created by writers who couldn't find gainful employment in the comic book industry .... the scenes are obviously fabricated with the goal of "let's do a series of magic escape acts which we can string together to look like a story is being told". There is no feeling at all that any of this is real, and so you cannot become involved either with the story or the chanracters.

The actors do well with the childish lines they are given to read and the street scenes of London are well done. Beyond that, do not expect this movie to engage your attention or your imagination or your interest !

I have never, ever felt the need so desperately to write a review on a film until I saw this one. Sherlock Holmes is quite simply abysmal. Everything about it is an insult to anything that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle depicted in his novels. Anyone who has seen the UK TV series, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring the inimitable Jeremy Brett, will appreciate that this adaptation is utter garbage. To feel the need to bring a classic such as Sherlock Holmes into the 21st century by totally dumbing down the plot and the characters with a totally incredulous story line is akin to remaking Gone With The Wind starring Eminem.
Right from the start, the irritating, grainy, colour-washed graphics and overcooked CGI, the mumbling dialogue and slapstick fight scenes make this a truly laughable (in a truly pathetic sense) production. One of the most amazing features of this film is the total inability of the director to generate any sort of rapport with any of the characters!! Genius!! How did he do it? My biggest regret about renting this movie was my failure to check my diary before renting this complete hogwash, as I see that I was in fact pencilled in for defuzzing my sweater collection; on reflection, an infinitely more enjoyable and rewarding experience. I have never, ever (with the exception of suffering through another classic, Stealth) felt so cheated at the thought that I have in fact wasted 2 hours of my life that I will never get back. If you have read any Sherlock Holmes, please take my advice, you need this film like a woodpecker needs a hangover.