Film Review by Justin Holford

I have seen it, and have to admit, I was a little underwhelmed.

It is no surprise to those that know me that I am a huge Conan-Doyle fan, and that I've been reading the Holmes canon, spin-offs, reboots, revamps, re-origins and future texts since I was eight years old. It is also no surprise that Guy Ritchie is one of my favourite directors, and Robert Downey Jr. one of my favourite actors. So you can imagine the increasing joy and anticipation I've experienced leading up to the final release of this, a film about one of my favourite all time character, played by one of my favourite actors, and being directed by one of my favourite directors.

Alas, I think I may have assumed too much too soon. Mark Strong's character needed more (and much better) dialogue. I only truly enjoyed his performance near the end of it, "Holmes, help me up!".

Rachel McAddams was under played and under used as an actress, and her full potential not met, as goes with all the players in this film.

Don't get me wrong, I do not criticised their performance as lack of talent, but simply them being limited by a script that went through four screenplays, eight writers, and four directors before being put on our screens. I knew that Moriarty would play a key point in this film from the word go, and I wasn't wrong.

I did like their interpretation of the Holmes/Watson relationship. I did like their interpretation of Holmes & Watson as personalities. I did not like the mixture of character's dialogue styles and scene organisation (due to the mix of writers, and therefore, writing techniques). I did not like the poor suffering that Mark Strong went through as an actor, with regards to his comic book like villainary, but only in the sense of it being extremely overplayed, and not at all endearing to me as an audience member.

I give that film the following ratings:
4/5 for Direction
2/5 for Writing
3/5 for Acting
3/5 for Enjoyment

Overall: 7/10

I look forward to a more organised and polished sequel.