AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
andiepoo
The movie's wit ended with the opening credits. From the narration in the beginning to the "chance encounter" at the end, everything else was just downright silly. When it does abandon its outright attempts at humor, you aren't sure whether the movie was still trying to be funny in its seriousness or whether the actors really were just unintentionally embarrassing themselves.Not being a hundred per cent faithful to the book should not be a problem, except to make things more visual and much simpler the script called for dumbed down clues that make Toby the bloodhound seem like far better at detecting than Holmes. It was just so annoying and painful to watch.
bluesman-20
The Seven per cent solution was one of my favorite Childhood films. Nicol Williamson was to me Sherlock Holmes. He looked like Holmes and he sounded to me the way Holmes ought to sound. After Watching Basil Rathbone portray Holmes(Rathbone will always be Holmes) I saw several other Holmes but none did justice to the role like Williamson. The story is simple. Sherlock Holmes is addicted to cocaine a seven percent solution 7% Cocaine and 91% saline solution. This addiction renders Holmes mad and paranoid with certain secrets from his past coming to haunt him. Watson decides to take him to Vienna to find the one man who could Cure Holmes. Enter DR. Sigmund Freud wonderfully played by Alan Arkin HE MAKES THE MOVIE!! Holmes is sent to Vienna by remarkable Ruse concocted by Watson and Holmes older smarter brother Mycroft. Holmes meets Freud and is forced to confront his addiction and is forced to cure it. While in the middle of his cure Freud has a patient in his care disappear. Enter Holmes to find her and save her from a Criminal conspiracy the climax of the film is thrilling and exciting and it makes you wonder why Hollywood with it's new generation of filmmakers and writers and actors why can't they do this kind of film today? The Truth is they can't. This movie belongs to a era we will never see again a era in which Adventure didn't mean gore or action did not mean necessarily Blood and Guts and Shootings every five minutes. Nick Meyers Screenplay from his fantastic novel Is in my view perhaps the Greatest Sherlock Holmes ever told a masterpiece from beginning to end. And worthy of the title CLASSIC.
MartinHafer
I really enjoyed this little fantasy film about the supposed treatment Sherlock Holmes received for his cocaine addiction from Dr. Freud. This is awfully strange, having a real-life and fictional character interact together, but the writers were able to make it work.Up front I should let you know that I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan--having read all the stories several times. In most of my reviews for Holmes movies, I am very critical because they take such liberties with the stories--and almost always ruin the stories. At first, I was reticent to see this story because of this--after all, it's NOT based on a Conan Doyle story and the last such film I saw (THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) was terrible in places because it took too many liberties with the character (especially at the end of the film). However, despite my reservations I saw the film and am glad I did.At first it did bother me, as the film did SEEM to contradict many of the Holmes stories. However, through the course of the film, they were able to explain away all these differences very well--in particular, Holmes' hatred for Professor Moriarty. Additionally, having the fictional character be psychoanalyzed actually was pretty cool--though Freud's analysis almost always took months or years, not a few quick sessions.Up until the last 10 or 15 minutes of the film, I was very pleased with the movie but then the film had a serious flaw that knocked off a point. The sword fighting scene at the end (interesting, by the way, in a Freudian sense) was totally unnecessary and totally distracting. It was like another writer took an intelligent script and added a macho idiot fight scene for no discernible reason. Had it been me, I would have had Holmes simply shoot the guy--not pad it out for no apparent reason. Additionally, while it was integrated into the story later, the whole tennis match sequence seemed contrived and silly. Still, with so much to like, both these scenes can be overlooked.An excellent film for Holmes lovers. Additionally, psychology teachers and therapists will also appreciate the inclusion of Freud.By the way, Charles Gray plays Holmes' brother, Mycroft in this film. A decade later, he played this same character in the Jeremy Brett series as well.
sharlyfarley
It's hard to ask for more from a film than Nicholas Meyer and Herbert Ross have given us here. No Sherlockians were offended and most were delighted by the idea that Holmes cured his cocaine addiction with the help of Sigmund Freud. The players are magnificent, from Nicol Williamson's brilliant nervous Holmes and Robert Duvall's sturdy Dr. Watson to the always-reliable Alan Arkin as a thoroughly charming Freud. Vanessa Redgrave shows up and glows. There's only one song, but it's by Stephen Sondheim, if you see what I mean. Lavish entertainment, with brains and beauty...and a saber duel at the end, aboard racing trains. See it if you can.
