Disappointing- could have been so much better

Rating: 5/10 (2 January 2010)

On this film, I basically agree with the NY Times review- mildly diverting but falls way short of its potential, although all the people I saw it with liked it.
You have Sherlock Holmes, one of the great characters of literature, two fine actors in Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law turning in excellent performances (although Downey was very hard to understand), and some well done period art direction and costumes, but the film was borderline boring. Why? It seems geared to an audience of adolescent boy- there's very little intelligence behind it- the action scenes are over the top and I didn't buy them, and the plot, as it were, or the conspiracy, is a roll-your-eyes, sophomoric Dan Brown rip off. Who cares? How about a simple, elegant, well-filmed murder mystery? Not for today's audiences I guess, who demand ever-increasing incarnations of evil and bigger doses of gratuitous violence.
This is a middling, mainstream Hollywood blockbuster- just another product of the "industry". If that's what you like, or if you are under 30, you will probably enjoy it. If you are a Conan Doyle fan, or enjoy a good mystery, you will be disappointed.