« THE WHITE RIBBON — CANNES 2009 | Main | THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND »

December 22, 2009

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Welcome!

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.ColeSmithey.comThis ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon.

Thanks a lot acorns!

Your kind generosity keeps the reviews coming!

ColeSmithey.com

 

 


ColeSmithey.comFans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mystery series of novels who blunder in not knowing it’s a Guy Ritchie film will it futile to reconcile Ritchie’s nonsensical tour of endless anachronisms.

You’d need a special magnifying glass to identify any elements of  Doyle’s original literary source material that lends the title character his name.

ColeSmithey.com

Snappy repartee between Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes and his irrelevant sidekick Watson (Jude Law) creates an illusion of character development even if no such thing exists.

Outrageous action set pieces — complete with cheesy slow motion — jump from gratuitous martial arts fights to revved-up foot chases.

ColeSmithey.com

What little mystery there is arises from Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a serial killer of women, whose court appointed execution by hanging kicks off the story.

ColeSmithey.com

A practitioner of Black Magic, Blackwood outsmarts his warders and Sherlock Holmes with the aid of high ranking officials who are secret members of Blackwood’s New Order.

ColeSmithey.com

Screenwriters Anthony Peckham ("Invictus"), Simon Kinberg ("Mr. and Mrs. Smith"), and newcomer Michael Robert Johnson conspire with Ritchie to dumb down Sherlock Holmes for a film franchise aimed at a modern youth viewed less intelligent than the generation Arthur Conan Doyle wrote for between the late 19th and early 20th century.

Insulting.

Rated PG-13. 128 mins. (Warner Brothers Pictures)

2 Stars

ColeSmithey.com

Cole Smithey on Patreon

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.

Featured Video

SMART NEW MEDIA® Custom Videos

COLE SMITHEY’S MOVIE WEEK

COLE SMITHEY’S CLASSIC CINEMA

Throwback Thursday


Podcast Series