The Freak's Rating: C+ : Sometimes a rating is pitch-perfect for a film, and C+ flat out nails Sherlock Holmes. Fresh off his impressive turn in Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. picks up where he left off as another superhero of sorts. The mystique of Sherlock Holmes is one nearly everyone is familiar with. It appears a younger generation needed to be introduced, at least according to Hollywood, so off we go to reimagine Holmes and Watson.
Acting is nicely done by Downey and Law (as Watson). Law, typically an actor I despise, has a great turn as Watson and quite nicely embodies the hesitant nature of an academic to indulge in the ludicrous methodology of Holmes. Downey has difficulty pulling off Holmes and the direction/writing doesn't help him one bit. Through literature, Holmes comes off as an intellectual. In the film, he comes off as a brilliant, yet strong man. There are moments when this integration of brains and brawn is pulled off. Other moments in the film fall incredibly stale as Downey appears either too stupid or too weak for the situation. Rachel McAdams is also poorly cast here. Makeup for the film is dreadful as McAdams appears to have walked out of a salon whenever she is on screen. Periodic makeup would have been far more effective.
Writing has the aforementioned flaws and is nearly unforgivable for the way it treats such legendary literary characters. Direction is nicely done in a cinematography standpoint, but quite poor when you consider "piecing it all together", as any good director SHOULD do.
Overall, Holmes is a film I'm happy I saw for the few well-written moments between Downey and Law as well as a notch in the soon to be elongated belt of this literature expanding into film. It rarely dances into an area I'd watch again and therefore falls just short of a recommendation.
Suzanne's Rating: B+ : I saw this movie a week after it opened and I really liked it. Yes, it had a few cheesy Hollywood moments. However, it also held my suspense as to how Holmes would scientifically explain away black magic. As a Christian, this pleased me. I was hoping that they wouldn't just say, "Yep, it was just black magic and leave it at that."
If I had read some of Holmes adventures, I might have been disappointed by how Hollywood ruins books. Overall, I thought Downey and Law did some great acting. I do want to see it again and am looking forward to the sequel.
Angie's Rating: B : I think this is a film with a few flaws, as pointed out by my friends above, but it's still one of the more fun films of the year, so I'd have to say I'd recommend it for anyone looking for some entertainment... especially if you're a fan of RDJ and accents ;)
