REVIEWS OF RITCHIE'S 'HOLMES': WHAT A MYSTERIOUS PUZZLE (VAR, GUA, THR)

By Nancy Tartaglione

Flamboyant and flagrant are among the adjectives being used to describe Guy Ritchie's take on "Sherlock Holmes." A selection of reviews from various outlets may be best summed up by a quote from The Guardian: "What a mysterious puzzle Guy Ritchie's new film presents."

Writes The Hollywood Reporter:

"In this corner is Guy Ritchie, master of visual con-game action movies that tend toward all-style-no-substance. In that corner is Sherlock Holmes, the cerebral master sleuth who solves crimes with quiet deduction, intense concentration and a seven-percent solution. It's no contest: The winner is Ritchie in a pyrotechnical knockout."

The Guardian adds, "There's the odd Ritchie-ism, like crunchy slo-mo in the fight scenes, but he was, presumably, brought on board for reasons not wholly to do with his cinematic style...This mammoth scale rather takes away from the minute pleasures of Holmes's sleuthery."

From Variety's take:

"Theoretically, Arthur Conan Doyle's genius of Baker Street is as open to reinvention and reinterpretation as any character, so there is a measure of amusement to be had in observing the contortions producer Joel Silver, director Guy Ritchie and screenwriters Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg have gone through to refit the character to the presumed requirements of the mass international audience...

"Although Downey's recent ascent to action-blockbuster topliner defines the nature of this new Holmes, the thesp's essential identity as a resourceful and vigorous character actor asserts itself up to a point...he sports a wild-haired, stubbled look that makes him resemble Al Pacino's kid brother...but his keen eyes, quick tongue and edgy combustibility do lend credence to a man who's able to see, anticipate and comprehend things others can't."

But, adds Variety, the single most important craft contribution is Hans Zimmer's score.