Once, ages ago, there was a young director called Guy Ritchie who exploded onto the scene with his original frozen frames featuring bad, gangsta boys from the British underground (cases in point: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Snatch)A year or two later, Madonna happened. And, although it would have been nice to link his name to those two, above-mentioned movies, whoever had a misfortune of watching his Swept Away (featuring the undiscovered, should-be-buried talent of Mrs. Richie...or was it Mr. Madonna?) could never again look at the man or his legacy with the same eyes. EVER.
Then came Revolver, then RockNRolla and his career was stamped, sealed and sent to Arctica. And that was, apparently, that. But, as all good stories have a phoenix-like quality to them, his divorce was his revival. Sherlock Holmes was born.
And you know what? I liked it. But, then again, I tend to go for almost anything with Robert Downey Junior in it. This new adaptation of Connan Doyle's was refreshing, Holmes as an action hero had certain charms and I appreciated the casting of Jude Law as Watson. It worked for me and was a solid 7, I believe. Or maybe even 7.5.
But that's where the praise ends. Sherlock Holmes 2 was (no shit, Sherlock) a disaster. I was appaled, disgruntled, annoyed but most of all, bored out of my mind! Sherlock, the action hero, is a washed up detective (seriously, does he really need to look so goddamn dirty and untidy ALL the time?!) and the plot just drags on. Most of it is fighting, frozen sequences of Ritchies' invention that are, by now, some 12 years old and not all that they were, once (look at my 1st paragraph).
They are over the top, too much, too often, all the time - which is to say, the perfect thing to put when you don't have a script.
Apart from all of this, the most important reason for this flop of a movie and my sudden dislike towards Downey's and Ritchie's vision of what Holmes should be happened right after the 1st and before the 2nd installment.
BBC's Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch. A masterful series, perfection itself. Once you enter this world of brilliant scriptwriting and engaging plots, Cumberbatch's obvious talents and specific traits, you can never go back to Downey's.
So, there you go Ritchie, bad timing, hey?
6 out of 10.
