This James Bond lookalike is entertaining but doesn't quite convince

Rating: 6/10 (20 January 2010)

It wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped. Far too much fighting and explosions and the like as Holmes & Watson get involved in endless chases or being chased etc. I grew bored with all this. I'd expected more time to be spent on tricksy clues and challenges for us to solve. On the James Bond angle, neither the script nor the scenes of violence and so on quite convince even though on a superficial level it's very slickly done and you have to get used to this dirty, dreary London that's depicted as Victoria. I've no reason to doubt the authenticity and I imagine many filmgoers liked that a lot, but am I glad I didn't live then in that grimy sepia city. I wanted to get away from it but even Holmes couldn't allow us a clean room to escape into for a short time. Ugh.
I quickly guessed who was behind it all and I imagine most others did so that's no secret - in fact, I'd expect anyone who knows anything about Holmes to guess quickly. I was surprised Holmes didn't immediately get that too but I guess they wanted to preserve the secret as long as possible! Downey acted Holmes well enough though I felt he was a bit too young for the part. Jude Law I had noted was in the cast and I didn't expect him to be anything special in whatever part he had - I didn't even realise until the credits at the end that Watson was Jude Law!! He was simply splendid, definitely the star of the show.
I won't be surprised if there's a sequel since there's the option given the end of this one. It should be worth seeing.
This is a movie I recommend you to see once, but whether you'll want to see it again depends I think on what kind of movies you like. I wouldn't watch it again, not even on TV, because I feel that "I've seen it, I know what's coming, there aren't any mysteries to puzzle over, so what's the point?" Perhaps in a sequel they could challenge us more?