Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 230
Fresh: 161 | Rotten: 69
Guy Ritchie's directorial style might not be quite the best fit for an update on the legendary detective, but Sherlock Holmes benefits from the elementary appeal of a strong performance by Robert Downey, Jr.
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 44
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 20
Guy Ritchie's directorial style might not be quite the best fit for an update on the legendary detective, but Sherlock Holmes benefits from the elementary appeal of a strong performance by Robert Downey, Jr.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 596,149
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Movie Info
The mysterious action-adventure, "Sherlock Holmes" staged by the renowned filmmaker Guy Ritchie for Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. Robert Downey Jr., the legendary detective borrows its shape, and Jude Law plays Holmes' reliable Mr Watson, of Sherlock Holmes as a doctor and war veteran actively supported.
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Cast
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Robert Downey Jr.
Sherlock Holmes -
Jude Law
Dr. Watson -
Rachel McAdams
Irene Adler -
Mark Strong
Blackwood -
Eddie Marsan
Inspector Lestrade -
Kelly Reilly
Mary -
Robert Maillet
Dredger -
Geraldine James
Mrs. Hudson -
William Houston
Constable Clark -
Hans Matheson
Lord Coward -
James Fox
Sir Thomas Rotheram -
William Hope
Amabassador Standish -
Clive Russell
Captain Tanner -
Oran Gurel
Reordan -
David Garrick
McMurdo -
Kylie Hutchinson
Maid -
Andrew Brooke
Guard Captain -
James Stephens
Captain Phillips -
Sebastian Abineri
Coach Driver -
John Kearney
Carriage Driver -
Tom Watt
Carriage Driver -
James Greene
Governor -
Terry Taplin
Groundskeeper -
Andrew Greenough
Prison Guard -
Bronagh Gallagher
Palm Reader -
Michael Jenn
Preacher -
Ned Dennehy
Man With Roses -
Dominic Keating
Thorpe Holmes -
Gareth David-Lloyd
Dr. John H. Watson -
Ben Syder
Sherlock Holmes -
William Huw
Inspector Lestrade
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Sherlock Holmes Trailer & Photos
All Critics (233) | Top Critics (47) | Fresh (165) | Rotten (70) | DVD (15)
Despite a few laggard moments of slow going, Ritchie has pulled off an entertaining coup in giving us a Holmes for the 21st century by digging back to the 19th century original and adding a few bells and whistles.
Top CriticWhat was the thinking behind all this?
It's all knotted together, then unraveled with brio, by Holmes and Watson. There are fisticuffs galore, fiery combustion aplenty, and, yes, my dear reader, clever deduction.
The very idea of handing him over to professional lad Guy Ritchie, to be played as a punch-throwing quipster by Robert Downey Jr., is so profoundly stupid one can only step back in dismay.
Downey never winks -- heâ(TM)s too much of a pro for that -- but like the man heâ(TM)s playing, heâ(TM)s much, much smarter than the movie heâ(TM)s in.
By now we've seen so many good, bad, and indifferent Sherlocks that it's almost a relief to get something different, however wrongheaded. And there's no such thing as too much Downey.
There's plenty of fun and entertainment to be had from Guy Ritchie's take on the character for both fans of Doyle's work and for those just getting to know Holmes and Watson.
... Bears the stamp of its director, Guy Ritchie, much more so than that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ...
The plot races and roars through a deliciously grungy combination of real sets and CGI for all sorts of big-action scenes in and around turn-of-the-century London.
Ritchie provides big dumb fun, but it's hard to imagine worse casting than Bob Downey, Jr. Maybe Verne Troyer or RuPaul. Downey's self-important bluster and lousy accent ruin the film. But pleasing score from Hans Zimmer's team.
Proof that Guy Richie can still make good films, though it's not without flaws.
Purists can, and certainly will, spend much time arguing how much is true to the material and how much was changed but the rest won't, and shouldn't care. The fact is, Sherlock Holmes is just down right entertaining.
Ultimately, it achieves what it sets out to do: to entertain.
Although Ritchie's itchy camera finger causes confusion in the more kinetic action sequences, Downey and Law take the film far enough into buddy film territory to make the misfires easily forgotten
Sherlock Holmes has something for everybody; an accessible film is exactly what Guy Ritchie's been looking for.
In a year in which actioners featured robots with arthritis and sinking ice, Sherlock Holmes might as well be considered a work of genius.
Le film de Guy Ritchie livre la marchandise, même s'il semble souvent pris entre deux époques...
Elementary, My dear readers. But not in a nice way.
Ritchie doesn't disappoint, and, if you go in with modest expectations, neither does Sherlock Holmes.
Like Ritchie's best films, this gets the job done as both an intriguing plot puzzle and a bouncy, entertaining romp.
Audience Reviews for Sherlock Holmes
Super Reviewer
For some Richie's more darker and laidback version of Holmes can feel out of place, but i felt that Robert Downey Jr. performed his Sherlock perfectly with right amounts of bum and gentleman in him. Casting Jude Law as a Watson is equally brilliant move. His Watson is much more than just a typical sidekick. Law adds gentleman and womanizer into his polite turn as a Watson and delivers brilliantly. And we should not forget the seductive Rachel McAdams whose femme fatale is real joy to watch, or neither should we dismiss always reliable Mark Strong whose Lord Blackwood is sneaky thief full of devilish charm.
What Ritchie and his team has created here is a work of a art. With cinematography by Philippe Rousselot, Ritchie turns 18th century London into hellish and dark metropolis where no one is safe. Ritchie seems to be in full control of his visual touches here like he was in his masterpiece Snatch. Sure, he has always been in control of his earlier works, but what he seemed to need at this point of his career, in my opinion, was a something completely new and this reimagining of Sherlock Holmes was the perfect project he needed to find himfelf as a director again.
I have always admired directors like Michael Mann, Brian De Palma, Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese. Those are directors who can mix entertainment into an art and Ritchie is certainly now nearly up there with those masters. While way too many directors takes themselves too seriously, director like Ritchie never forgets to have some fun along the way. Sherlock Holmes is actually perfectly suited for a director like him. A director whose visual trademarks, with clever use of slow-motion, works perfectly with the story.
I have to mention the masterful score by great Hans Zimmer whose music here is wonderful mix of different styles and ideas. He uses strings and pulse pounding synthesizers with great effect. Zimmer is in my opinion one of the most experimental composers working out there these days and he rarely misfires. Sherlock Holmes is another addition into his great body of work among films. This is a score that ranks up there with Inception, Hannibal or Frost/Nixon.
This whole film is quite honestly technically flawless. So what about the story itself? It can certainly take some time for some viewers to settle down with the film. Within the first hour it's complex screenplay seems to go so many different directions with it's multiple sub-plots and characters, but the more clear the main storyline comes, the more enjoyable it gets. Screenplay by Simon Kinberg, Anthony Peckham and Michael Robert Johnson is wonderful mix of suspense, comedy, action and mystery with nice touches of black magic and horror. The climax of the story is a work of genius and put a nice big smile to my face. It will most certainly satisfy hugely the fans of more complicated mysteries and puzzles.
With Sherlock Holmes you get wonderful and entertaining mystery that is also certainly one of the biggest positive surprises coming from a filmworld that i've ran into in a long time. Guy Ritchie has finally made a film that equals his Snatch. This is a work of a master filmmaker at the peak of his powers.
Super Reviewer
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- Sherlock Holmes: Is it poison Nanny?
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- Sherlock Holmes: You've never complained about my methods before.
- Dr. Watson: I'm not complaining.
- Sherlock Holmes: You're not? What are you right now?
- Dr. Watson: How am I complaining? I never complain. When do I complain about practicing your violin at three in the morning? Or your mess, your general lack of hygiene or the fact that you steal my clothes? When do I complain about you setting fire to my rooms?
- Sherlock Holmes: Our rooms.
- Dr. Watson: The rooms! When do I complain about you performing experiments on my dog?
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- Inspector Lestrade: In another life, Mr. Holmes, you would have made an excellent criminal.
- Sherlock Holmes: Yes, and you an excellent policeman.
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- Sherlock Holmes: There's only one case that intrigues me at present. The curious case of Mrs. Hudson, the absentee landlady. I've been studying her comings and goings, they appear most... sinister.
- Mrs. Hudson: Tea, Mr. Holmes?
- Sherlock Holmes: Is it poisoned, Nanny?
- Mrs. Hudson: There's enough of that in you already.
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- Blackwood: I warned you Holmes, to accept that this was beyond your control, beyond what your rational mind can comprehend.
- Sherlock Holmes: What a busy afterlife you're having.
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- Irene Adler: Why are you always so suspicious?
- Sherlock Holmes: Shall I answer chronologically? Or alphabetically?
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Latest News on Sherlock Holmes
July 7, 2010:
Sherlock Holmes 2 Starting in October?According to Jude Law, the sequel to Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" should start rolling in October...
April 15, 2010:
Sherlock Holmes 2 Screenwriters Talk SequelWhat can we expect from the "Sherlock Holmes" sequel -- and could Brad Pitt end up playing Moriarty?...
April 7, 2010:
Updates on Sherlock Holmes 2, Hot Wheels, and Logan's RunLooking for a little early word on the "Sherlock Holmes" sequel, the "Logan's Run" remake, and the...
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Foreign Titles
- Sherlock (DE)
- Sherlock (UK)
