The film lets character elements breathe before enshrouding Sherlock Holmes in a rather rote mystery. Even amid herky-jerky rushes of headlong exposition, Robert Downey, Jr. keeps the proceedings humming at a good clip with amusing performative nuance.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 28, 2025

Sherlock Holmes remains a strong calling card for Ritchie, as well as an under-appreciated chapter in the respective careers of its star-studded cast.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 20, 2025

Ritchie [has] slapped the viewer across the face to get their attention, and in the process changed the character for a less attentive audience.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 28, 2023

Guy Ritchie brings his slick crime movie style to the old-school detective stories of Arthur Conan Doyle and turns the venerable detective into a strapping, scrapping action hero...

| Apr 22, 2022

An entertaining update of the legendary detective that succeeds largely by the chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. [Full Review in Spanish]

| May 17, 2021

This over-modernized version of the detective retains the 1800s London backdrop, but little else feels familiar.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 29, 2020

Downey Jr is a delight, giving his Holmes an impish sense of mischief and proving unexpectedly nimble in the bouts of bare-knuckle, bare-chested boxing that Ritchie shoehorns into the story (now, that isn't a surprise).

| Nov 26, 2020

Downey, Jr. is the perfect casting choice who manages to bring a somewhat lackluster script to life.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 1, 2020

Too much of an action adventure story so it loses what makes Sherlock Holmes entertaining

| Original Score: 4.5/10 | May 7, 2020

There's not only a whole lot of bone-crunching and rib-busting that Holmes joyously indulges in, there's his perpetual grubby look, his overnight stubble, stained shirt and dissolute, world-weary attitude that totally reinvents the character.

| Feb 28, 2020

For although this modern Sherlock may be popcorn friendly it is, in essence, a by-the-numbers action movie with misplaced literary pretensions that will leave fans of the novel cold.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 25, 2019

Watch it, by all means, for a dazzling visual feast, but be warned, this Sherlock is more show than tell.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 17, 2019

mostly forgettable

| Mar 9, 2019

The '09 model Holmes is at once a fresh reinvention of the concept for modern sensibilities, and a surprisingly grounded embrace of its pulpy roots.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 16, 2019

This film seems like a cynical moneymaker, using a storied name to draw attention while not even trying to bring that beloved creation to life. Expect more of the same, though.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 21, 2018

A bravely bonkers action thriller with a crazed comic edge from director Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels).

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 15, 2018

No doubt Downey's own struggles have informed his character choices. The plot is intelligent and the acting is brilliant. I didn't want it to end.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Nov 13, 2018

As Watson, Jude Law has found his perfect role.

| Oct 30, 2018

It hardly seems worth analyzing a plot so frivolous, but its basis is a wholly material worldview.

| Oct 8, 2018

[The director's] style works well with the script, which is, while perhaps not the most engaging story, interesting and fun enough to sustain the film.

| May 18, 2018