Great setup, but unsatisfying

Rating: 6/10 (13 January 2010)

To say Sherlock Holmes had high expectations is an understatement. Lets face it, Guy Ritche post-RocknRolla directing Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, along with his pet actor (and sole reason to watch Revolver) Mark Strong, not to mention Rachel McAdams. So when Holmes wound up being merely good, it was really easy to be disappointed.
Holmes takes on a more book-accurate version, which is great. Holmes is far from stable, an eccentric nutbag, although brilliant (its easy to see that House was based off this version of Sherlock). The biggest difference is Dr. Watson, who, by being played by Jude Law, is immediately obviously not the bumbling fatman following Holmes as one might expect. Instead, he's competent and possibly the only one able to save Holmes from himself.
The pair soon finds themselves in the middle of a mystery and Lord Blackwood (Strong), a villainous leader of a cult group, seemingly comes back from the dead and begins offing his cult elders, who all believe in some heebie-jeebie stuff the movies takes way to seriously and is only able to explain through outlandish means. Strong has proved himself a good actor, but fails as the villain, not using his screen presence as much as he could.
Rachel McAdams also appears as Holmes' long-lost love interest and femme fatale, although she eventually must take on the damsel in distress role. She perhaps lacks some of the more direct sex appeal, but is nonetheless effective in the role.
As for the main pair, they are both played excellent. Robert Downey Jr is possibly the best possible actor to play an eccentric like Holmes, and Law complements him very well.
The movie has many more action setpieces than one might expect from the title, but alas, they are there. And they are quite good, especially when they invoke a certain monstorous mook. Ritchie directs them with plenty of kinetic energy without getting too Bourne-ish, but they do sometimes go too far over the top.
In all, Holmes is an entertaining but unsatisfying end-of-year action flick. It desperately wants a sequel, which I hope it gets simply because there is lots of potential. Here's hoping Ritchie utilises it more next time.