Guy Ritchie does his best to screw it up

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2010)

The first film of Guy Ritchie's that I've seen since his staggeringly awful debut, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (aka No Way! Shut Up! I've Never Even Seen Reservoir Dogs!). I was right to avoid him. Sherlock Holmes is almost a good movie. In any case, Robert Downey Jr. is an inspired choice for the role, and he really does his best to make the film work. I don't at all object to the idea of making Sherlock Holmes an action hero. The screenwriters make it make at least some sense. But, boy, does Ritchie go out of his way to screw everything up. The guy can't direct an action sequence to save his life. At one moment, he's overexplaining everything via slow-mo flashbacks (we could figure out Rachel McAdams drugged the wine, we don't need to see it), and another moment he's confusing us with slapdash editing. The film is just a mess. In the hands of a better director, this franchise could have been worth watching, but in Ritchie's hands, I'll avoid any subsequent films.