Not really Sherlock Holmes, but fun

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2013)

Once again, I'm sure Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was rolling over in his grave when this film came out. I think it does a great disservice to the author to hijack his characters like this.
Having said that, if you owe no allegiance to Doyle, you can have fun watching this movie. I would have preferred that they just created all new characters, rather than stealing his.
This film has a lot going for it -- lush sets (many computer generated), fine photography, and clever and snappy dialog.
But on the negative side, some of the fight scenes are so fantastic as to not be believable. There's a fine line between generating excitement and making the audience feel it's just to fantastic to be at all realistic. This film, as with many coming out of Hollywood nowadays, crosses that line.
It's quite fun watching the interplay between Downey as Holmes and Law as Watson. They're a great team. Although it does get very camp.
It is a film where you have to pay attention to catch the nuances and some of the "background" that sets up later parts of the film.
Is it a good film or not? To be honest, it depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking at a faithful telling of a Sherlock Holmes novel...definitely not. If you are looking for some slight bawdy fun, yes. I actually think it's better than the first Downey foray into Holmes.