Comedy kills the atmosphere

Rating: 5/10 (29 January 2004)

Sleepy Hollow is a wonderfully set film - you can feel what living in those ages must have been like. But two major flaws severely harm the movie.
First, Sleepy Hollow starts as a "detective story". You wonder who killed the victims, how and why. And while your mind imagines possible answers, the filmmakers retreat to the world of fantasy - no evil plan, clever tricks or any of that. It's like if in JFK, Oliver Stone would have made Superman be the killer.
Second, from time to time comical situations pop up. This totally ruins the atmosphere. You have Johnny Depp wandering around this dark place with a very serious facial expression, and the next thing you know, he is either standing on a chair for his fear of a spider or ridiculously splattering himself with blood.
Therefore, I'd rather recommend to you watching From Hell - or Police Academy.