Review – Sherlock Holmes (2009)

I’m more than a little surprised that this found an audience. It struck me as too stupid for Sherlock Holmes fans and too Holmes-y for anyone else. Further proof that any big, noisy, star-studded action movie automatically sells tickets. With a different character in the lead, I would have had an easier time of simply relaxing and enjoying – or at least tolerating – the expensive effects and extended fight scenes. But I admit a strong preference for the old Basil Rathbone Holmes pictures, movies from a time when wit at least occasionally prevailed over violence. Here Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law play the famous duo, chasing the bad guys around London while deftly avoiding directly confronting their affection for each other. And of course in the end we get a ham-handed setup for a sequel, with the actor playing Moriarty deftly hidden in shadow so as to make him easier to cast in the next go-around. Mildly amusing