Ebert: Sherlock Holmes is 'Filled with sensational sights'

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According to Roger Ebert, the latest film adaptation of Sherlock Holmes is a pretty good flick and is more focused on the action-adventure aspect of things, sporting great special FX. From the Sun Times:

Every Holmes story is different and each one is the same, just as every day has its own saint but the Mass is eternal. “Sherlock Holmes” enacts the strange new rites of hyperkinetic action and impossible CGI, and Holmes and Watson do their best to upgrade themselves. Holmes tosses aside the deerstalker hat and meerschaum calabash, and Watson has decided for once and all to abandon the intimacy of 221B for the hazards of married life. Both of them now seem more than a little gay; it’s no longer a case of “oh, the British all talk like that.” Jude Law even seemed it be wearing lipstick when he promoted the movie on Letterman.

Well, Holmes, like Hamlet, has survived countless interpretations. The character has been played memorably by Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Frank Langella,Peter Cushing, John Barrymore, James D’Arcy, Michael Caine, John Cleese,Peter Cook, Rupert Everett, William Gillette, Stewart Granger, Charlton Heston,Anthony Higgins, Raymond Massey, Roger Moore, John Neville, Leonard Nimoy,Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Nicol Williamson – and now Robert Downey Jr., who is not the least of these.

Downey’s Holmes is at once more dissolute and more fit than previous incarnations. Holmes’ canonical devotion to the opium pipe is here augmented by other drugs and a great deal of booze. Yet Holmes has the body of a lithe athlete, the skills of a gymnast and the pugilism of a world champion. He and Watson (who is, you recall, only a doctor, although one with clients who must be puzzled about his office hours) spring readily into action like Batman and Robin.

MTV reviewer says that the Sherlock Holmes movie was based on a comic book. 

Rumor has it that director Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” was based on an original comic book concept. But even if that’s not entirely true, there is absolutely no question that the latest “Holmes” adventure has plenty in common with the paneled page.

Between the film’s director and the four principle actors in the movie, “Sherlock Holmes” has more than a few connections to comic book cinema. Read on for our rundown of some of the links between the cast and crew of “Sherlock Holmes” and the comic book community.

The Washington Post wasn’t too kind to the movie, saying that it was not too faithful to the original books by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle. However, the review said that Robert Downey Jr.’s performance was as usual, very good. Here is what they said:

At heart, that’s the problem with “Sherlock Holmes.” Not that it isn’t, as fans of Ritchie’s earlier, rock ‘em-sock ‘em work would probably say, awesome. In some ways, it is. The film includes a number of genuinely exciting, dramatically staged set pieces, such as the climactic showdown between Holmes and Blackwood on a half-finished bridge over the River Thames.

Rather, it’s that this “Holmes” is just about as silly as it awesome. At times, Ritchie and company try so hard to make sure this isn’t your father’s “Sherlock Holmes” that it comes across as, well, cartoonish.

The San Jose Mercury News said the movie isn’t without flaws, but some of the special effects and extras make up for it. Don’t expect classic material:

A few times, the writing team turns lazy and relies on corny cliches. Do we really need the arrival of a “Book of Spells” to help our hero? Let’s put a hex on that device.

Ritchie’s flashy edits and muscled action scenes make us forget those trouble spots. This is Ritchie in fine “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “RocknRolla” form, almost good enough to make us forget bad Ritchie of “Swept Away” and “Revolver” infamy.

Surely, Conan Doyle fans will walk away miffed that the filmmaker forsakes the brain for the brawn. But anyone who’s seen the trailer knows better than to expect a literal Sherlock Holmes. It is the antics and eyebrow arching of Downey Jr. — on quite a box-office roll with “Iron Man” and “Tropic Thunder” — that packs fans into the theaters. With Holmes, he relishes every minute of portraying such a larger-than-life character, in a performance that’s in the same outlandish vein as Johnny Depp in “Pirates.”

It’s the mad genius of Holmes that Downey Jr. taps into so well. And from that mischievous gleam in the eyes to the unkempt appearance, he’s a joy to behold. The same can be said for Law, who makes the mildly fussy and dapper Watson a lightning rod for Holmes.

Without these two stars, “Holmes” simply wouldn’t have a clue.

 STARRING: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

 DIRECTOR: Guy Ritchie

 WHERE: Bay-Area wide

 RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some startling images and a scene of suggestive material

 RUNNING TIME: 2 hours, 9 minutes